In The Shadow Of The Leaf
by Aiedaill
Summary: They were always ignoring me. Pretending I didn't exist. I didn't know why. But when I learned what was inside me, I finally understood. And I decided to do what they wanted. I dissapeared. Hidden in the shadows. At least for now... Calm!Naruto, Fuuinjutsu and Wind User!Naruto, progressively diverting from the canon. Beta-read from chapter 8 onwards.
1. 01 - Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

It was quiet and empty on the streets of Konohagakure no Sato, also known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves... even if it was bigger then most towns. There was no move in the night, not even stars were shining, hidden behind the heavy clouds. The only source of light were street lanterns and few still lighted windows.

There weren't many people in the northern part of the city, where were placed more of the biggest mansions. Apart from the three shinobi returning from their mission and one drunk man, who was returning, or at least trying, to his home only the occasional ANBU patrols were disturbing stillness of the night.

There was one more figure in this quarter. Small one. No higher than twelve, thirteen years old child. From its build it was clear that it was a boy. Clad in a tight matching pants, long sleeved shirt, a coat with deep hood and wide sleeves and soft leather boots, everything in grey camo marks. The hood was up, covering his hair and hiding a part of his face in the shadows, already hidden by a black, blank mask. He also had a grey pouch strapped to the back of his waist.

The grey clad boy was sneaking through the streets, sticking to the shadows. The ANBU patrol walked just a few feet from him, but even when one of them looked directly in his direction he didn't saw him. No wonder. While moving in the middle of the street the boy's figure was melting with the surrounding. In the alley's shadow, while motionless, it was more possible to walk on than see him.

Finally, the boy reached his destination. Noticing the good one on the right, he climbed up the tree and looked at his target for this night.

The target was a big, two level mansion, build in the western style. From this side the second floor was slightly smaller, leaving place for two balconies and a bit of a flat roof. The mansion was surrounded by gardens, with flowers, few trees and a small pool. Two roads, to the south and to the west, were leading to the gates built in the ten six feet tall stone wall that was surrounding the whole area.

The grey clad figure was looking around, trying to remember position of the various rooms, potential hides and shadowed places. He noticed a few guards, smiling with satisfaction under the mask when he saw that they were just normal thugs. He was able to sneak behind the shinobis' backs, it was harder, but still possible, but there was always a risk that he'd walk on a sensor. Here, he already found at least four paths that would easily lead him in.

Of course, that could also mean that at the end of those ways awaited traps. This was actually quite regular. If they were the standard traps, then they weren't a problem. Disposing, or finding another way, if disposing is impossible. He found an undisposable trap only once. He wanted to enter through the attic, going in through the clap in the floor, but to the downside of it was attached a wire. He was about to cut it through the small crack when he noticed the whole mechanism. The wire was attached to the sound bomb that was placed in weak balance on a steel rod. Only the wire was holding everything up, so if he would open it, he would trigger the bomb, but if he would cut the wire, everything would fall, triggering itself. If he would have one more person with him, he would be able to get through, but in his position he had to find another way.

The homemade, nonstandard ones were diferent. They're slimy, unpredictable, painful or all at once. To this last group he could count that damn bee hive above the balcony door in the unused bedroom on the second floor. Thankfully he dropped it when he was running, so he was already gone when the angry bees came out of their ball. The two chasing him guards weren't so lucky

When he saw almost everything that was there to see (almost, cause he always assumed that he had missed something. That way he was always on guard. Better safe than sorry) he rushed into motion. Jumping forward from his tree he landed on the wall that was surrounding the whole mansion and quickly slipped down, hiding into the wall's shadow. He looked around, just to be sure that what he saw earlier and sensed now was accurate, and there wasn't anyone around. Once sure, he sprung into action, running to the nearby tree, using every bit of shadow to hide. He regretted that there wasn't any gaps in the layer of cloud. A bit of moon light would made the shadows deeper. Nevertheless, using the same technique he passed the distance between the wall and the proper mansion, disappearing every moment, melting with the surrounding like a ghost. No one saw him, not even when he run a few feet in front of patrolling guard.

When he was close to the house he speed up and run up the wall. After making seven steps he jumped and caught the roof of the first floor, pulling himself up. When he was already on the roof he crouched and looked around for any sign of alarm.

Every single move, from the jump on the wall to the crouch and look behind was done quieter than falling of the leaf.

There were three scrapes of a tiled roof with two balconies between them. The boy was standing on the far left scrap. He crept to the nearest window, looking through it. Inside he saw a kitchen, with two maids still working. He knew that he wouldn't go through this one since he saw the light in the window when he was still on the tree, but it was good to know a few more details. This could help him later.

Leaping over the the rail the figure jumped on the first balcony. The glass doors that led inside were also lighted, so he approached them carefully, looking inside to see an office, with wooden walls, a desk and few cabinets full of books. He also saw the back of a man in dark blue kimono with brown hair, that were showing signs of graying, sitting behind the desk. In front of the desk another man was standing. This one looked to be around thirty, had dark hair and wore plain, brown kimono top and black baggy pants. He was standing with his hands nervously folding in front of him and his eyes in his brown sandals.

The one behind the desk was yelling at him so loud that the boy heard him through the closed doors.

"...before, don't you dare to sell anything to that boy, do you understand!?"

The standing one said something, which he didn't heard, but was interrupted by another yell.

"I'm not paying you for thinking, I'm paying you for working and listening to orders! And right now I'm ordering you to throw that demon out if you see him ever again in my..." The boy crept away, no longer interested. He jumped over the railing, landing on second scrap of the tiled roof. He looked through the window, this time dark, and grinned under his mask.

What he was looking at was a wardrobe. Judging from the dresses, it was a woman's wardrobe, and judging from their sizes, the woman was big. Without too much trouble he quietly opened the window and jumped inside. Looking around he searched for something interesting. Ignoring the dresses, gorsets, kimonos, scarfs and many other things he walked to one of the walls where he found a few cabinets. On their shelves he finally found what he was looking for.

He reached to his pouch and drew a book with a blank, brown cover. Opening it at one of the first pages he revealed a seal and started putting his findings in it: three necklaces, one of them with small diamond in it, six pairs of earrings, bracelet and at least eight rings.

He was counting in thoughts his earnings when he heard the door's opening. He was hidden behind the labyrinth of clothes, but he had to silently made it to the window. Silently and quickly, before...

"Ehhh... who leaved the window open?" He heard a young feminine voice, few steps of boots with heels and sound of closing the window.

_'Just great...' _The boy thought. Deciding that there was nothing he could do about it now the thief started sneaking towards the, as he now noticed, still open doors. When he was walking out on the hall, dimly lit, with a blue carpet through the middle, he stole one last glance behind to see a blond haired girl in a maid outfit ruffling through the clothes. He crept through the hall, straining his senses to make sure that he wouldn't bump into someone...

"Is somebody there?" _'Damn it! She had to see my shadow!'_ Hearing the maid's steps approaching he quickly reached the nearest door and jumped inside, hoping that she didn't hear the click of the closing doors. He stood there for a few seconds, straining his hearing and sixth sense, until he heard the footsteps fading away. Breathing inwardly with relief he looked around.

He found himself in a bedroom. Judging by the pink color everywhere it was a girl's bedroom. Opposite to him he saw a door leading towards the balcony, open. On left was a closet and a small cabinet with a small mirror and few cosmetics, on right a king sized bed and a night table next to it. He also saw someone under the sheets.

He was heading to the balcony when he saw something shining on the night table in the slight light of the street lanterns. When he came closer, apart from a lamp and a photo of a dark-blue haired women in mid-twenties, he saw a beautiful bracelet. Made of silver, in a shape of two dragons, with intertwined tails, that were holding small emerald with their fangs. He picked it up. It was greatly made, with care to the details. Someone who knows about jewelry would pay a lot for it.

"Don't take it."

He flinched inwardly, but his body reacted on its own. Out of nowhere a kunai appeared in his hand, and he put it just under the girl's jaw. She was looking at him with green eyes, still covered by her blue hair, but he didn't saw fear in them. He only saw pleading.

"Please," she begged, seeming to not caring about the blade on her throat, "It's from my mother... don't..."

Her eyes rolled to the back of her skull when he knocked her out with the ring of another kunai that appeared in his other hand. He picked the bracelet from the sheets where he dropped it. He looked at the unconscious girl with understanding in his eyes. Somebody might say that it was stupid to think about bracelet when facing an armed stranger in the middle of the night, in the middle of someone's bedroom, but he knew why she had done that. He knew her after all. He would do the same if he...

"HELP! Someone stole Karuski-sama jewelry!" _'Damn. That maid must have seen the empty shelves.'_

"Go downstairs and tell the others! Hami, intruder might still be here! Go check Kaisha-sama bedroom, I'll go to the office!" Deep male voice, one used to giving orders. Few quick steps were heard approaching the bedroom's door before they were opened quickly, though quietly.

A tall man with brown hair came inside. Light was coming from the hall, hiding his facial features in the shadow. His hand was resting on the katana's hilt, while his eyes were scanning the room. When his look rested on the right side of the room he relaxed. Nobody was here.

The guard walked to the balcony and closed the doors. Comfort aside, if there was a thief somewhere in the mansion, Kaisha-sama's safety was more important than a bit of fresh air. He looked at her sleeping figure, wondering why didn't she wake up. They're shouting quite loud. Shrugging it off he walked out to report that there aren't and rather weren't anyone inside.

After all, Kaisha-sama's bracelet was still lying on the night-table.

* * *

Fujio sighed, reading a report from one of his informants. Konoha's shinobi found another one of his magazines. Thanks whoever was up there this one was empty in that moment, but he has already lost two in this month. As well as at least eight men.

Managing underworld in the shinobi village was a hard, dangerous and worthy business. Hard, cause Hokage's shinobi were more than willing to hunt every criminal in the village, encouraged by a prize for every one of them. Good prize. Dangerous, because of the great interrogation techniques that the shinobi possesed. There weren't many thiefs that could withstand it, which meant that every caught thug could give him out. Fujio managed to avoid it only because there was only a handful of people that knew his real identity. He was hiring a few men to deceive most of the people about their leader true identity.

And as for worthy... selling informations from and to the shinobi village was a very good business.

Fujio cursed, reaching the name of another caught man. He was one of the bests. Of course, to work in Konoha he had to be at least great, but Kugo was an elite. Experienced missing-nin from Kumo. But it looked like it wasn't enough. Of course, Fujio could get him out. The current Hokage was old and weak, even the council, this band of loud, self-loving idiots, managed to trick him to pass a few laws, for example to lower academy standards so more of the councilmen's children could graduate. But while getting Kugo out was simple, just a few bribes in the proper hands, he was already burned. Fujio had to find him a new city.

Sighing, he tossed report on the desk and reached for a bottle with sake.

"Problems?"

Fujio nearly fell from his chair hearing the quiet voice. Looking up he saw grey clad boy sitting in the chair in front of his desk. "Damn it, Kokuei! How..." He trailed off. He would never know how this child managed to sneak to his guarded office without him, or anyone else, noticing, "Couldn't you knock?"

"You're asking a thief why didn't he knock?" He heard amusement in Kokuei's voice.

Fujio sighed, "You know you should announce yourself, right?"

"Really? Why nobody told me about it?"

"I did. At least hundred times."

"Oh sorry. I had to forgot. Otherwise I would announce myself. Cause I really care, you know?" Kokuei didn't even tried to hide irony, "So, what happened?"

Fujio thought for a while and decided that he would learn anyway, "They caught Kugo and found another hideout."

"Another? Something happened around there? Or are they just went there out of nowhere?"

"Out of nowhere"

"Than maybe you have a rat?"

Fujio's eyes widened. There was going to be a delivery today, but it was delayed. If everything would go as planned this magazine wouldn't be empty. It could have been just a coincidence, but this sudden attack... If something would have happen around the hide, the ninja that would came there might found something. Bad luck. But it was calm around for the last few days, even the Rabbits, young slums kids, didn't attack anyone in the last few days there.

"Looks like I have more work," Fujio muttered, "Okay," He said louder, looking at his guest's black mask, "What did you came here for?"

"Oh? You don't like me here?" Kokuei asked in a mock hurt tone. Fujio only send him a glare, "Okay, I was on a trip and have a few souvenirs if you're interested."

"Really? Vacations? Where, if you don't mind my asking?"

"You don't know already? You said yourself that you have every information in Konoha," Fujio cursed inwardly, almost seeing mocking grin behind that damn mask, "Karuski," Kokuei added, probably because he knew that he would learn about it before noon. Or in half an hour if he try.

Fujio only nodded, not showing any emotions, "Okay, show me what you've got."

Kokuei stood up and drew a book from his pouch. Opening it at the proper page, he unsealed his loot.

"Hmmm..." Fujio started picking jewelry muttering to himself, "Silver... real... nice sapphire... ruby... oh, gold one... hmmm... I would say, about... 200 000 ryo."

"600 000."

Fujio looked at him, wondering if the thief knew what he was talking about or is he was just trying to bargain with him.

When silence grew longer Kokuei sighed, "Fujio, I know you like boys, but I'm not interested, so stop your daydreaming and decide. I don't have all night. I have to sleep well. I'm still a child, you know."

The Head of the Konoha's Underground gritted his teeth, but he didn't respond to the insult. He wouldn't dare. This boy was intimidating.

He knew Kokuei for two years already, but he was still felling uncertain, to not said scared, in his presence. And the fact that the thief was only a child didn't help. Always clad in his grey outfit, not showing even the smallest part of his body. Only those eyes, piercing into Fujio. Two icy blue eyes, big as child's, warm as said ice, full of irony, or emotionless, blank. Eyes of someone who has done a lot to survive and who could do more. His voice was the same. On one side, it was a voice of a small boy, even before the mutation. But on the other side it was full of sarcasm, cold and experienced. Voice of someone who knew how tough life could be.

"Fujio..." Kokuei's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Oh yeah, right... mmm... you said 600 000? Not too much? They're pretty, but..."

"You're doing this on purpose or are you just so stupid?" Fujio stopped himself from throwing something at this brat, "I don't have time to bargain, so I said straight what I want."

Again. This was happening again. It was a conversation between an adult and a child. An Employer and an employee. So why it was an adult and an employer that was sweating and trembling? Kokuei didn't even say anything threatening. Only this cold voice. Those blank eyes. And maybe this kunai, that appeared out of nowhere in his hand, that was spinning between his fingers like a coin.

"Okay, as you want then," Said Fujio, standing up, hiding the fact that his hands were shaking, "Wait a second, I'll be right back," With that he walked out of the office.

Kokuei leaned deeper into the chair and focused on his senses. He felt someone behind the wall on the right, probably a hidden door, as well as two more in the hall and three in the room on the other side. All six were waiting for any sigh of hostility, or Fujio's sign, to show him a way out, very gently. Not that they would manage to. They were no match for him.

It was stupid actually. Meting with a ninja and thinking that normal thugs will help.

The door opened again and Fujio came in with a bag. He tossed it on desk in front of the thief.

"Here 550 000 ryo. Those toys are worth more than 600 000, but since they're from Karuski, treat the rest as a compensation for my risk," He had to play hard. His subordinates were watching. He couldn't lose his face. And Kokuei knew that. If he decide to destroy him...

"Ehhhh... Okay, let it be like that," Fujio sighed inwardly in relief and remembered something, "Oh yeah, I have a job for you..."

"Not interested," Kokuei interrupted, standing and taking the bag, his kunai disappearing. Fujio was about to stop this cocky brat when he continued, "Don't try to find me."

And before he could say anything else, Kokuei was out. Fujio gritted his teeth, frustrated. He wanted to send someone to bring the brat back, to teach him some respect. But he couldn't. First, if Kokuei didn't want to be found nobody would find him.

Second, he already has lost few people that he send to follow the young thief.

Kokuei walked out of the hideout's hidden entrance. He took a deep breath, tasting the night air, and drew his book to seal the money. Once done, he concentrated and sensed two men walking down the nearby street, few kids sleeping in the old shack in front of him, guard observing him from his hide on left and a patrol of shinobi jumping through the roofs. With that knowledge Kokuei retreated deeper into the alley. Later, the guard was swearing that he melted with the shadows, like as if he was part of them.

The young thief appeared again a few streets to the east, jumping on the roof of the building from the alley next to it. Once there, he took off his hood and mask, revealing a mass of wild red spikes and a face of a young, around thirteen years old boy with three whiskers-like marks on each cheek.

The boy jumped to the east, in the direction of his apartment, noticing the sun that was starting to rise.

'_Great,' _Naruto thought with resignation, _'Another sleepless night.'_

* * *

**Author note:**

**This is my very first attempt at writing a fanfiction so, as much as i appreciate your opinions and suggestions, please don't be TOO hard on me.**

**I'll try to upload it once per two-three weeks but I don't know how it'll work.**

**Oh, and sorry for any spelling mistakes. English is not my mother language so if you find any mistakes please point it out for me. I'll try to fix them.**

**Well, until next time!**

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**Updated 01.04.2015.**


	2. 02 - First Impression

"Troublesome."

Nara Shikamaru was in puzzle. And he hated it. He was Nara's clan heir, son of the current Konoha Shinobi Forces commander, Nara Shikaku, the most intelligent man in the whole village. But he couldn't solve one puzzle.

This puzzle's name was...

"Naruto again?" Chouji asked, sitting next to him. Shikamaru looked at him.

Chouji Akimichi was his best friend. He had brown, medium length hair and a chubby face. He also, like all Akimichi, was f... emmm, that is, big-boned. Word on "F" was taboo near Chouji, or any of his clansmen by the way. Unless you didn't have anything against a few weeks in a hospital. If you're lucky. Aside from that incidents Chouji was very kind, gentle, and a bit shy.

He was wearing a short-sleeved jacket over a white shirt with a kanji for "food" on it, long white scarf around his neck, black shorts and small earrings. Also his forearms and legs were bandaged

"Shika, it's starting to look like an obsession," Ino turned around, looking at the boys in the desk behind her.

She had a long blond hair tied into a high ponytail with few bangs covering right side of her face and blue eyes. She was clad in a blouse with high collar and apron like skirt, all purple, with bandages wrapped around her thighs and waist. She also had purple and white warmers reaching from her wrists to above elbows.

Yamanaka Ino wasn't his friend. She was too bossy and troublesome to be his friend. But their fathers, along with Chouji's, were teammates in their genin times, so he knew her quiet well.

Ino was also the only one, apart from him, that found that something was odd about Naruto. Her clan, Yamanaka, was famous from their mind techniques and psychological skills. Ino found Naruto strange when she was practicing reading body language and facial expressions. It was one of the exercises meant to prepare her to using mind techniques. She wasn't actually supposed to use it on her classmates, but she couldn't help but to want to know more about a certain boy in the class. Then she used it on the others out of simple curiosity. Naruto was one of the last. Until then she thought about him as a quiet and not-interesting commoner. And when she tried to read him he was relaxed and bored. This was pretty much like Shikamaru, but in Naruto's case there was something strange about it, like as it was a fake.

One of her next exercises was a half-technique, allowing her to read the others feelings. It was one of the steps to learn her first Yamanaka mind technique, Mind Invasion. This time Naruto was one of the first to try on her new skill, losing only with certain boy (again). She was very curious, but she found only disappointment in both cases. This time there wasn't even some fake curtain. There was completely nothing. Both boys were unreadable, like a blank sheets of paper.

She asked her father, Yamanaka Inoichi, about this. Apart from a good scolding, she received quite surprising answer. Something like that was common through the older shinobi. It was like a defence system, acquired through training or some mental trauma, that every shinobi was someday developing.

So that meant that Naruto was receiving a special training or lived through something awful. She had no idea which.

As for Sasuke, the second boy, it wasn't hard to guess which one it was. Death of a whole family wasn't a pleasant experience.

Shikamaru learned about her discovery during one their fathers' meetings. She accidentally slipped about her use of a clan technique on Naruto, and Shikamaru drew the rest out of her. And, to her surprise, told her about his revelations.

It's funny, but Shikamaru started his investigation when the redhead became less troublesome. When they first met in the academy Naruto was a loud-mouth, happy-go-lucky idiot. He was very friendly, always with a huge happy grin on his face and a mass of energy in his guts. He was wearing bright clothes, oranges and whites. He wasn't paying attention during classes, was skipping them, he even pulled a few pranks on the teachers. He was also kind of clumsy. Because of all of this he started to gain the title of the class' clown.

And then, after half a year, and a few days of absence, he changed.

At first nobody noticed. Not his change. His very presence. He came early and sat in the back of the class, away from anyone. They didn't noticed him until their teacher, Umino Iruka, started checking the attendance. When he said quietly "present" in response for his name everyone turned to see a new Naruto Uzumaki.

His face-splitting grin was replaced by a blank, maybe a bit bored expression. In the place of his white t-shirts and orange pants he was wearing simple brown baggy trousers, dark blue shirt and black sleeveless jacket. Before, whole his appearance was shouting 'Look at Me!'. Now only his red, spiky hair weren't plain.

When Iruka-sensei saw him he was by the redhead's site in a second, yelling at him for being absent, asking him if he was alright and dragging him out saying something about the Hokage. Shikamaru assumed that Naruto had some kind of accident, or pulled another prank.

This was when Shikamaru started to watch him. Most of the class lost their interest after a+ few days, but he was curious what happened to cause such a huge change. At least in the beginning, because later he began noticing other things. First was the treatment form the adults. Apart from Iruka, who was rather neutral, most of the teachers were scolding and punishing Naruto for everything they could, even for such stupid things like a wrong way of rising a hand, not too polite tone or distracting others when somebody made some mistake.

Second thing he noticed two years later. It was during Physical Week, a week during which they were doing only physical training, without theory. Shikamaru quickly noticed that Naruto was very worn out, and it only deepened in time. And then, on the third day, he saw something strange.

It happened during a spar tournament. In one of the first fights Naruto was against Sasakiba Kikuske, son of the councilman Sasakiba. Both of them were rather weak, so the fight wasn't that exciting. That meant that not many saw what happened.

What Shikamaru saw was Naruto taking a strange stance in the middle of the fight, after receiving a punch to the face. When Kikuske attacked, Naruto evaded two of his punches, ducked under a kick and hit his opponent in the stomach while standing up, with so much force that the poor Sasakiba was sent flying.

As a reward for winning his fight Naruto was thrown out of the tournament and forced to clean the classes... Nice reward for learning a new fighting style.

Cause what Shikamaru saw was definitely NOT an Academy stance. The only other students that weren't using Academy fighting style were Uchiha Sasuke, Chouji, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata, but they were all from clans that were using mostly taijutsu (or at least a lot), so it was understandable. But how Naruto, an orphan without a clan, learned a new fighting style?

On the next day the Uzumaki was almost punished again. Unfortunately, not for showing something more. It was because he passed out. The only thing that saved him from a punishment was Iruka that saw him from the other side of the training grounds and took him to the hospital before any of the other teachers had a chance to scold the redhead.

After that Naruto started to watch himself. Shikamaru was caught a few times by the young Uzumaki. It looked like the redhead has noticed his...

"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE BRATS!" Shika almost fell off his chair, looking at the (at least ten times bigger than normally) head of his teacher, Umino Iruka.

Ending his signature, at least in this class, technique, Iruka looked around. He was a tall men with brown hair tied into a pineapple ponytail and brown eyes. He had a horizontal scar across his nose, but nobody knew how he received it. He was wearing a standard chuunin outfit... and a very BIG tickmark on his forehead.

"Ino, could you please wake up Naruto, before I do this by throwing him through the window?" Asked the teacher in a forced calm voice.

Ino sighed and walked to the tired Uzumaki, smacking him up his head, "Wake up, Lazy Bum!"

Naruto groaned and looked at her with annoyance, "What do you want, Ino?" His look turned from annoyance to mocking, „I told you, only one kiss per week."

Everyone snorted at that, which quickly turned into a full blown laugh when they saw Ino's embarrassed expression. But the huge blush sported by the young Yamanaka wasn't there only because of the embarrassment. Her imagination was already working, showing her images of her and Naruto, on the hill, kissing, while full moon was...

'_NO! No, no, no, no, no! __I like Sasuke-kun! Not Naruto! Stop thinking about Naruto and his... NO! Sasuke-kun, remember, Sasuke-kun!_' she ordered herself, trying to suppress the blush and rising her hand to punch this handso... that is, stupid redhead.

"Alright, Ino, sit down. Calm down, guys!" Most of the class were whining, but Iruka really didn't want a fight right now. "Now, as you all probably know," He continued when everybody's attention was back on him, "Today's the day of your genin exams. If you think that you're not ready, you can refuse to participate in it and stay for another year. Anybody who wants to stay?" He asked only because he had to. He was sure that nobody would decide to stay. "Okay, if we settled that then let's move on. Your test is going to be divided to four parts: Knowledge, Weapons, Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. First is Knowledge so... take your pencils, guys," He grinned hearing their groans.

* * *

After an hour everybody gave Iruka their sheets and walked outside. The taijutsu part went without surprises. Uchiha Sasuke was the best, beating Inuzuka Kiba quite quickly. He completely ignored his fangirls' praises, but he had a satisfied smirk on his face. Shikamaru was fighting with Naruto, the redhead won, but their performance wasn't too flashy, just enough to pass. Weapons was similar: the Uchiha was the best, hitting all targets in the centre, his fangirls were fawning, and Naruto slipped by a hair breath.

To pass the ninjutsu test the students had to perform three academy techniques: Clone, Change and Substitution. Most of those who passed to this point were calm, cause those three were rather easy.

When it came to Naruto, he quietly walked inside the class where the teachers were testing them. Walking through the door he saw Iruka sitting behind the table in front of him and Mizuki, Iruka's assistant, sitting in the far corner of the room.

"Okay Naruto, you know what to do. First, Change." The young Uzumaki put his hands in the handseal and changed into Iruka.

"Good, now substitution." Next thing Iruka saw was himself sitting in a chair behind the desk. He stared at this for a few seconds, until Naruto dropped the Change, revealing himself.

'_He changed himself in me and switched our places with Substitution. And judging from Mizuki's face he didn't noticed anything.' _Iruka was impressed. Changing place with other person wasn't that hard, but needed a lot of hard work to reach, and without the handseals it was even harder. It was at least low-chunnin level skill.

"Very good Naruto, I'm impressed actually. Now, Clone," Iruka said, frowning slightly. Three days ago Naruto couldn't make even one healthy clone. They're all sick and lifeless. By academy rules, he couldn't pass him without this jutsu, but this situation showed him that the redhead had great potential, despite his poor grades. He was going to talk about this with Hokage.

Naruto casually put his right hand into pocket, while rising his left to make half-tiger handseal and said, "Clone Technique."

Without even a smallest cloud of smoke appeared thirteen exact copies of Uzumaki, with his red spiky hair, brown baggy trousers, dark-green t-shirt and black leather shoes.

"Wow Naruto! You couldn't make even one three days ago!" Iruka was positively stunned.

"Well, I worked a lot and got a hang of it yesterday," Said Naruto, letting go of the tag in his pocket and scratching the back of his head.

"Great job, Naruto. Congratulations, you pass." Iruka handed him a protector with a smile on his face.

"Thanks, Iruka... sensei," Said Naruto with a small hesitation, taking his hitai-ite. His gratefulness was genuine. Iruka was one of the few people who were treating him normally.

'_Damn, I had such a great plan,' _Mizuki's face was blank, but inside he's burning with rage, _'What am I going to do now? I can't steal this scroll myself. It's too risky... Damn Demon!'_

* * *

"...Kakashi?"

"Hmmm?" The jounin asked with his only visible eye still in his orange book.

"I asked do you have any request about your genin team," Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha looked at one of his best, and laziest, ninja with slight impatience.

„Ohh? Sorry, Hokage-sama," Kakashi closed and hid his book, probably more because of the stares of a few female Jounins than Hokage, "I have only one request..."

"I received this request already," Sandaime interrupted, "Uchiha Sasuke will be on your team as you wish," Saying: 'you' the Hokage meant: 'council', "Now Toriko, any..."

"Actually," This time it was Kakashi's turn to interrupt, "I wasn't talking about Sasuke. This is the council's request, not mine." Everybody looked at the one-eyed Jounin, surprised. If he had a request himself, than that meant that he wanted to became sensei for someone this year.

'_Who are you and what have you done with Kakashi?'_ Thought almost everyone.

"So who do you want Kakashi?" Asked Hokage, though he already had his suspicions. After all, Kakashi was one of those who knew.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Huh? You want the worst student in the class? Maybe in the whole year?" Asked Sarutobi Asuma, Hiruzen's son, who already decided that he want the new Ino-Shika-Cho trio, "From what I heard he couldn't even do a single clone."

"His clone problem is his tenant fault."

"Huh?"

"Tell me, what is a trademark of all Jinchuuriki?" Kakashi asked.

"Ehhh, I don't know... turning into a giant beast with a lot of tails, huge chakra reserves, special Jinchuuriki..."

"Exactly, huge chakra reserves," Kakashi pointed out, "And what can you tell me about control when somebody have so much chakra?" His question quickly put one answer in every mind.

"Nonexistent..." Muttered Yuhi Kurenai, a fresh Jounin who was about to receive her first team.

"Kakashi is right," The Hokage said, "I was going to pass him despite this. But Umino Iruka, his class teacher, informed me that he managed to create thirteen clones during his test." A few surprised looks were send to him, a few understanding to Kakashi.

"So that's why you want him, Kakashi?" Somebody from behind asked.

"Actually I heard about this for the first time." Now all looks were surprised.

"First? So... then why do you..."

"Cause I think he's holding back," Kakashi interrupted, "I saw him during his weapon test and I can tell that he hit exactly where he wanted. Also, he passed knowledge test only just."

"So? He was lucky."

"I would say that too, but all his test from the last three years were like that."

"But why? Why would he hold himself back?" Kurenai wondered.

"Good question," Kakashi said.

"Okay, I take it under consideration," Hokage's voice brought them out of their thoughts, "Now, let's move on. Toriko, any requests?..."

* * *

"Kakashi, stay with me for a while."

The meeting was over. Jounins were walking out, discussing about their teams and making plans for their tests. But one of them was stopped by Hokage's voice.

"What it is, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked when they're left alone.

"I just want make sure that you know what you're doing," Seeing Kakashi's questioning look Hiruzen added, "I'm talking about Naruto's parents."

"Oh, yeah," The one-eyed Jounin's frown disappeared, "I know, but really, Hokage-sama, my presence would only be a confirmation. Nobody would be able to guess who his parents are knowing only that I'm his sensei."

"Well, I think you're right," Hiruzen nodded, sighing and turning around to look on the village, "I hope you also know that, as his sensei, his safety is now on your shoulders."

"I don't think that would be a problem," Kakashi responded, "He can take care of himself."

"What do you mean?"

"When have you received last report about an attack on Naruto?" The jounin asked in return.

"Few weeks ago," Hokage said, "He was chased by a few drunk chuunins. He run from them."

"And when have you received the last report about and attack in which Naruto have been injured?"

This time Hokage took more time to think, "At least two years ago."

"That's because he became so good at hiding that he managed to avoid most of those attacks. Even the good ones."

Sandaime's shoulders rose a bit, "Good ones?"

"This ANBU attack five years ago wasn't the only coordinated one." Hokage turned around looking with concern at his jounin and nodding for him to continue. "Two months ago a few young chuunins and two jounins were searching through the slums in the southern part of the city. They said that they saw a foreign ninja, but one of my... friends saw them chasing after Naruto."

"Why wasn't I informed about this?" Hokage's voice became cold, reminding Kakashi his old nickname: God of Shinobi.

"Cause we couldn't proof anything. According to the Konoha's law, for mind reading we had to have at least three proofs. They could always stick to the story with the foreign ninja and say that following Naruto was just a coincidence," Slight annoyance was evident in Kakashi's voice, „We had only our word against theirs."

Hokage nodded. He also didn't like it, but it was a law established by the Nidaime, to prevent abusing of the mind techniques.

"I assume that there were other incidents like this."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi didn't elaborate.

"... I want you to report me about them from now on," Hokage said after a bit of though, turning to the window again, "I also want you to discover Naruto's level, and why did he hide it."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi waved, allowing Kakashi to leave and looked at the Hokage Mountain. He was thinking about his successor's last wish when he noticed that the jounin didn't leave.

"Anything else?"

"Hokage-sama... about this shinobi attackers..." Kakashi trailed off.

"What it is?" Hokage hurried him while still looking out the window.

"...they... they seem to understood the whole sealing process. They aren't attacking him because they're afraid, but because they hate him, or rather the Kyuubi. They just want to hurt the fox, even..." He stopped for a second, but quickly continued, "...even if this mean sacrificing Naruto."

Hokage closed his eyes. That was much more dangerous. He could understand fear. Scared people were able to do a lot, but they were acting on impulses, without thinking about consequences. But if what Kakashi said was true, then they're acting on grief. They were still mooring their loss, and wanted someone to pay for it. And, since they had their killer in the village, they wanted to make him suffer.

The worst thing was that it was pointless. By attacking him they won't hurt Kyuubi, they will only hurt Naruto. The Fox won't even feel anything, and if they kill the boy, the Kyuubi will be free. At least for a while. Because 'killed' Biju do not die. It just disappears, to, in the other place, after few years, appear again, free and untamed. The only thing they will gain is a few years of peace, after which they will be forced to take care of the unleashed Giant Fox.

"I understand. You're dismissed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." This time Kakashi leaved Hokage alone with his own thoughts. And his own grief.

_'I'm really sorry I let this happen... Minato-kun.'_

* * *

Naruto was waiting.

He was also waiting an hour ago...

... And even two...

The rest of their class were already picked by their Jounin senseis. He and his new teammates were waiting patiently for the past three hours...

Well... Patiently is probably a wrong word...

Naruto was trying to sleep. 'Trying' was the keyword. After years of sleeping in a loud class someone could say that he should be able to sleep through everything. But ignoring general noise of the whole class was sooo much easier than ignoring screeches of one pink-haired banshee.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Said Banshee screamed.

"Sakura," Naruto was trying really hard to be calm, "Can you please be a little quieter? I'm trying to sleep here."

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT OUR SENSEI IS LATE!"

"No, probably not... but if you'll scream a bit louder than me going deaf is going to be your fault."

"AND WHO CARES ABOUT YOU?! Right, Sasuke-kun?" She added in a too sweat tone, looking at her crush.

One more info about Sakura. She was a fangirl. Well, like almost every girl in their year actually, but Sakura was... drastic.

The object of her fawns was sitting near the window with his usual moody demeanour. Uchiha Sasuke, last survivor of the Uchiha clan slaughtered by his own brother, Itachi. Rookie of the Year, best of the best, elite of Konoha with a stick so deep up his ass that it was rising his duck-butt-like hair. He surely was skilled – Naruto truly admitted that. But it wasn't anything special, considering all his training. And with all that help from the kissing-his-ass council, older shinobis and fawning civilians, 'Uchiha-sama' should be already on chunnin level. Naruto considered himself to be even with him, and he had only basics, few books found in a garbage and what he learned himself.

The door slid open and head with a black mask covering everything under his eyes, left eye covered by his hitai-ite and silver, gravity defying hair popped inside.

"Hi guys!" He said with his only visible eye closed in turned-U-like shape, "Sorry, I'm a little late."

"A LITTLE?!" _'Ouch, that one was loud,'_ Thought Naruto, "WE'RE WAITING FOR THREE HOURS!"

"Maa, maa, don't be so angry. Meet me at the roof in five minutes. I'm waiting." And he disappeared in the swirl of leafs.

"HEY!" Screamed Banshee to the absent jounin, "What does he think he is?! He's late for three hours and now he said he's WAITING?! I'm going to..."

"Sakura," Naruto calmly interrupted, standing up and following Sasuke out of the class, "Shut up."

"NARUTO! You..." Slamming the door quieted her for a few seconds.

* * *

Kakashi was looking at his new students.

Haruno Sakura, booksmart, but lacking in physical. Wearing a red kimono-like dress with white stripes and circles, blue shinobi sandals and black shorts. Her hitai-ite was holding her long pink hair. No kunai pouch.

_'Let's learn a bit more,'_ The one-eyed jounin thought.

"Ok, guys, tell me something about yourself. You know, name, likes, dislikes... maybe a dream... that sort of things. Pinkie, you first."

"DONT CALL ME PINKIE!" Sakura screeched. Sitting beside her Sasuke flinched a bit, Naruto was still looking asleep on her other side.

"Maa, maa, don't need to be so angry," Kakashi calmed her, wondering why nobody wrote in her file that she had such a weapon, "So? Go on."

"But... I'm not quite sure what do you mean," Sakura looked at him helplessly, "Maybe you go first and show us how to do it sensei?"

On the outside he just shrugged, but inside he was frowning, _'She is trying to gather some information... or she's just dumb.'_

"Well... My name is Hatake Kakashi. I don't like or dislike anything that much. I have a lot of hobbies, and as for my dream... not your business," He ended with his eye-smile, grinning inwardly when he saw sweatdrops on his... awake students, "Now you."

"Emmm... my name is Haruno Sakura... I like... ummm..." She glanced at Sasuke, "... my hobby is... well..." Another glance at the raven-haired boy, "... and my dream is..." She looked at Sasuke, blush appeared on her face and she hide her face in hands, squealing loudly.

_'Now I understand her lack in physical part,'_ Thought Kakashi, _'She's a fangirl... why nobody wrote that too? We have to take care of it, if they make it through the test... Okay, so let's go on.'_

"Great. Emo, you're on." Sasuke just glared at him.

Uchiha Sasuke. Rookie of the Year. Genius. Wearing a dark blue short-sleeved shirt with high collar and Uchiha crest on his back, white pants reaching just under his knees, blue shinobi sandals and white warmers on his forearms. His hitai-ite was tied around his forehead. He had one kunai pouch on his right leg and another, bigger, on his lower back.

"Name's Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like too many things to say, like only few. My... ambition is to rebuilt my clan and to kill someone." Sakura started fawning about how 'cool' Sasuke was. Kakashi was analysing what he learned. He didn't know why, but knew what Itachi had done to his brother. Killing someone's parents in front of his eyes and putting him under genjutsu to show it over and over for hours was cruel enough even without the knowledge that the person who had done all this was his brother. Kakashi was expecting hate in the young Uchiha, but it seemed far stronger than he thought.

_'Looks like I'm going to have a lot of work with him,'_ Kakashi thought, turning his attention to his last, still seemingly sleeping, student.

Uzumaki Naruto. Son of Kakashi's sensei. Dead last of the class, able to overrun ANBU. The boy was wearing black baggy pants, matching sleeveless shirt with a zipper open to his collar bone revealing his hitai-ite tied around his neck. He had also black leather boots, grey camo warmers on his elbows and matching fingerless gloves with metal on their backs. He had two pouches on his lower back, but they seemed to be filled with books. Kakashi also caught a glimpse of some markings on his gloves. _'Seals? He's definitely not a deadlast.'_

"Sleepyhead, your turn," He said loudly. Naruto groaned, opening one of his eyes and giving Kakashi a bored look.

"Do I really have to?"

Jounin shrugged, "I would really appreciate that."

Naruto sighed, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I don't like talking about myself."

Everyone sweatdroped, _'Damn, he's better than me,'_ Kakashi thought, _'And he isn't going to make things easier... I'm going to have a lot of work with them... that is, if they make it.'_

"Ok, we all said something about ourselves... mostly..." He added, looking at Naruto who closed his eye again, "... so I have only one more thing to say. Tomorrow we will have a test. If you won't pass it , you're going back to the academy." He grinned inwardly when he saw shock and fear on his genins' faces... and frowned seeing unchanged, bored look on Naruto's. _'He knew... or he's great at hiding his feelings.'_

"But... w-what about test... academy t-test..." Stuttered Sakura.

"Pre-test. Only to weed out hopeless cases. So, meet me tomorrow at training ground 7, 5 a.m. sharp. That would be..."

He was interrupted by the appearing of three new figures via body flicker next to him.

First was a beautiful woman with long, dark hair and ruby eyes. She was wearing a dress, that looked like made of bandages, that was reaching to her thighs, with mesh shirt visible underneath and red sleeve on right arm. She had bandages wrapped around her thighs and her arms, from elbow to her hands, without fingers. She also had black shinobi sandals and hitai-ite tied around her forehead.

Second figure was a tall men with short hair and beard. They're black, but here and there few grey hairs could be found. He was wearing standard jounin outfit, with his hitai-ite tied around his forehead, white shawl with some red and blue symbols around his waist and kunai pouch on his right thigh. He had also unlighted cigarette in mouth.

The last one was also a man. As his companion, he was wearing standard jounin outfit, but he had longer, shoulder length grey hair and grey, kind of dull eyes. He had also, aside from pouches like others, two long daggers on his thighs.

"Hey Kakashi," the one with the cigarette said, "Can we talk for a while?"

"Sure. You guys..." He turned to the genins, "...are free for now..."

"Actually..." Dark-haired woman interrupted, "We want you three to wait while we're talking, okay?"

Kakashi send her a lazy look, frowning inwardly. What did they want from his genins?

"Okay, guys, give us a second." When they nodded, he stood up and disappeared in the swirl of leafs with his fellow jounins.

"Strange..." Sakura murmured, frowning slightly.

"What's strange?" Sasuke asked, "He probably just received a mission, and they took him to talk without witnesses, period."

"Well... maybe," Sakura said, unwilling to disagree with her 'Sasuke-kun'.

"...idiot..." Naruto muttered under his breath, but Sasuke heard him nonetheless.

"What was that, dead last?" He asked, glaring at the redhead, who didn't even open his eyes, "If you have something to say then feel free to say it," Uchiha added still glaring at Naruto, while Sakura only looked from one to another, easily felling the tension in the air.

Naruto opened his eyes and was about to answer Sasuke, but was interrupted by Kakashi's appearing.

"Sorry, but we have a little change of plans. Our meeting will be at 1 p.m. at the training ground 73..."

"Why?" Naruto interrupted.

"Cause I have a mission tomorrow," Kakashi said, looking straight at him.

"You have a mission, sure," Naruto muttered, not even trying to hide the sarcasm, though keeping it quiet enough that only Sasuke and Sakura heard him.

"Don't be late, guys!" With those word Kakashi disappeared again.

"Hn. Said so." Sasuke's superior smirk didn't disappear even after are-you-fucking-kidding-me glare from Naruto.

"You're great, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed. Naruto only shocked his head.

"Something wrong?" Uchiha asked, looking at him defiantly.

Naruto looked at him, then at Sakura, and back again, "Don't you two think that this is weird that he have a mission just after receiving a new team?"

"Maybe... it's something only he can do?" Sakura asked in an uncertain tone.

"And this hard mission that only he can do is going to take him only few hours?"

"That means that he's good," Sasuke said, clearly pleased by a prospect of a powerful teacher that will train him to prepare him for his 'ambition'.

Naruto sighed and shrugged, standing up. He jumped off of the academy roof without a goodbye or even a word. If they wanted to be idiots then he wasn't going to disturb them.

After all, even if he received this mission, why the hell did they changed the place?

* * *

**And here we have a second chapter.**

**Ok I'll say it now: I won't give any spoilers, so don't ask me what it's that made Naruto change. That'll be in a next chapter... or maybe after the next I'm still not sure.**

**Though one thing I should explain. Asuma said that Naruto is '...the worst student in the class? Maybe in the whole year...'. What I meant by that is that Naruto's class wasn't the only one in this year. I know that it isn't straight canon, but with a bit of math everyone can understand why I did that. After all, with only nine new shinobi every year, how is it possible that Konoha, and other villages from the Elemental Countries, managed to gather 80,000 shinobi during Fourth Shinobi War? It's just impossible.**

**Well, that would be all. Until next time!**

* * *

**Updated 04.04.2015.**


	3. 03 - Wait, what about the bells?

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

'_Damn it! Where the hell are those ANBU when they're needed?' _Thought Naruto jumping through the roofs. Behind him he sensed three other figures. They're on the outskirts of Konoha, running towards forest.

Why they were in such a rush? How did it all started?

Well... quiet normally... yet a bit strange.

Normally, cause until noon nothing interesting happened. Normal morning, normal shopping under Change, normal training in the Training Ground 26, on top of the Hokage Mountain. When sun stopped its journey in the middle of the clear sky he returned to his apartment. Quick shower, grabbing his pouches and something to eat and he was out again. On his way to the training ground 73, when he leaved the outskirts and reached the forest, he caught up with Sasuke. Uchiha didn't show any sign of noticing him... apart from speeding up. Naruto was tempted to accelerate as well, but shrugged it off.

Training Ground 73 was one of the furthest. It laid over ten miles to the south-west from the outskirts, and more then thirteen from the Hokage Tower. That's why, despite that they had over half an hour in advance, they reached their destination with only ten minutes left.

And that's when the strange part started. Cause when they jumped out of the forest into the clearing they saw Kiba, Shikamaru, Sayuri and few more from their Academy class.

"SASUKE-KUN!" Screamed Sakura, jumping on him. Sasuke sidestepped and looked at the rest, totally ignoring the laying on the ground pinkette and fawning Ino.

"What are you doing here?" Ask... demanded Uchiha.

"Our sensei told us to come here for a test," Ino responded sweetly, "Maybe they want to mix our teams? It would be great if we end up together, right, Sasuke-kun?"

"IN YOUR DREAMS, INO-PIG!" Sakura screamed, jumping on her feet.

"SHUT UP, FOREHEAD!" Ino wasn't as loud as Sakura, but she wasn't that far behind.

Naruto looked around. The area was quiet normal. Small lake, quite big clearing, a lot of trees. Like almost every training ground in Konoha.

Definitely not big enough for four teams to do physical, as he suspected, test.

"Hey, Kaisha," He heard Kiba's voice behind him, "Is that true that someone broke into your home?"

Naruto looked behind. Inuzuka Kiba. Loud, brash, easy to anger, 'first do, then think' type... or rather 'do and don't think'. Loudest (boy) in the class. Abilities focused around taijutsu and working with his ninken, specially trained ninja dog, Akamaru. Wearing grey, hooded jumper with fur on the edges, brown pants and blue shinobi sandals. Kind of feral features, with his sharp, dog-like canines, fang-like markings on his cheeks and wild brown hair. Kunai holster on right hip, pouch on the left side of his waist. Hitai-ite around forehead.

"Yea..." Kaisha muttered, and seeing questioning looks from everyone around, she continued, "He stole some of my grandmother's jewellery."

Karuski Kaisha. Daughter of a rich merchant. Kind, helpful, a little arrogant. Raised without even a clue about a real life's problems. Little, happy, unaware princess. Good chakra control, rest of her skills average. As for looks, blue hair tied into a ponytail held by a pink ribbon. Blue eyes. Pink skirt, pink t-shirt, dark pink long-sleeved jacket, pink shinobi sandals. Bandages on legs, surprisingly, normal, white. Kunai holsters on both hips. Hitai-ite around waist.

"They caught him, didn't they?" Kikuske asked.

Sasakiba Kikuske. Son of the Councilman Sasakiba. Arrogant jerk, who was thinking that his father will give him anything. True dead last of their class. His skills were under Academy standards, but his father fixed it up with his teachers. Brown, short, slicked to the back hair, narrowed, brown eyes, a bit chubby face. Black pants, snow-white shirt, brown long-sleeved jacket. Kunai holster in the pocket of his pants. Hitai-ite nowhere in sight.

"No," Kaisha responded, "When they found out, he had already run out of my room,"

"From your words I assume then that you've saw him," Shino spoke.

Aburame Shino. Heir of a Aburame Clan. Quiet, logic type. Due to his clan abilities, controlling insects, he wasn't very popular. Though maybe it also had something to do with his wearing style. Baggy jacket with wide, high collar, sunglasses, and hitai-ite tied around his forehead covered almost his whole face. Only his nose was visible. Add brown pants, blue shinobi sandals and kunai holsters and you have the whole image.

"Yes, I saw him."

"A-and you c-called f-for h-h-help?" Hinata stuttered.

Hyuuga Hinata. Heiress of the Hyuuga clan, the most powerful in the whole Konoha. Despite this she was kind, very gentle and almost unbelievably shy. Which was weird actually, since normally Hyuugas were so arrogant that they could put even Uchiha Sasuke to shame. Her clothes, baggy beige jumper, blue pants and standard shinobi sandals only strengthened her shy and timid appearance. Only thing that was standing out in her sight were her eyes, lavender colour and pupilless, trademark of all Hyuuga.

"No, I didn't," Kaisha said, and seeing their awaiting stares she sighed and continued, "I woke up in the middle of the night. He was standing next to my bed, holding my mother's bracelet. I... begged him to leave it. He..."

"You saw a thief standing next to your bed, probably armed..." Interrupted Kiba in a high voice. "... and you asked him to leave a bracelet?"

"It's from my mother." Oh yeah... little crack in the princess's perfect life.

"So?"

"Kiba!" Sayuri hissed, "Her mother is... gone." She could understand. She would protect every souvenir from her mother... if only she would have one.

Sayuri was an orphan. Her parents died during Kyuubi attack. She somehow survived in the ruins. She was the only civilian in the Academy that was truly working for her success. She was very quiet and closed, keeping mostly to herself, not talking too much to anyone apart from Hinata and one other girl from Academy, Aryia. She was also one of the few people that Naruto... didn't mind. She had brown, a bit spiky, short hair, just to the neck, and matching eyes. Her nose was also a little crooked, as if it was broken, but it wasn't too noticeable. Clad in a knee-length dark blue pants, matching sleeveless vest with a mesh shirt underneath, black warmers on her elbows and standard shinobi sandals. Two kunai holsters on both hips, pouch on left back and hitai-ite wrapped around right wrist like a protector completed the sight. All of her clothes were a little worn out. There was a fund for the orphans, but it wasn't enough for expensive ninja gear.

"Oh... sorry," Kiba muttered quietly.

"Don't be," Kaisha responded, "You didn't know."

"So what happened?" Asked Ino, who just ended her catfight with Sakura and came closer.

"He took kunai out of... somewhere, and put it to my throat," She raised her right hand to said place, "He looked at me for a few seconds and then I felt pain in the temple... next thing I remember was waking up in the morning."

"B-but... y-you have..." Hinata stuttered, pointing at Kaisha's wrist.

"Yeah..." The 'princess' muttered, looking at her hand, "When I woke up, the bracelet was laying next to my bed, as if nothing happened. I thought it was a dream until I heard about the stolen jewellery."

"He left it? Why?" Shikamaru asked, more to himself than to the others. Looks like he also was listening from his place on the side with Chouji.

"I don't know..." Kaisha admitted, looking at the Nara, "... but... when he looked at me... his eyes were... uhhh, I don't know, kind of... understanding..." She looked away, thinking about those cerulean orbs, "Like as if he knew what..." She closed her eyes in a blink, "... I feel."

When she opened her eyes she wasn't looking at her classmates anymore. In front of her was just a tree line. She heard a metal clang behind her and turned on her heels with wide eyes.

Few second earlier Naruto sensed three people approaching the clearing from the north. He turned in their direction, expecting their senseis, hopefully with explanation. But he saw three unknown ninja, dressed in white armour-like jackets with only one shoulder-strap, black, long-sleeved t-shirt, black pants and matching scarf-like things around waists. They jumped out of the forest and approached them quickly in triangle formation. First was a tall bald man with a sword hilt protruding over his right shoulder, on his left was not-so-beauty woman with short blond hair, and on right run a small, dark skinned man with short brown hair and a small scar on left cheek. All of them had Kumo hitai-ites tied around their foreheads.

When Naruto saw exactly where they were heading he quickly used substitution with Kaisha. Seeing that the bald one was drawing his sword the redhead summoned three kunais in his left hand and threw them at ninja's right side. When Baldy moved to dodge Naruto leaped forward, with summoned kunai in his right hand. Kumo ninja managed to draw his sword, nodaichi, in time and block redhead's attack. Naruto was quickly overpowered and after another push Uzumaki was thrown away. He flew at least twenty feet before he managed to stop.

In the meantime Kumo kunoichi and her other teammate reached the genin's group. She sidestepped a fast, but sloppy palm attack from Hinata and hit her in the back of her head, knocking her out. She grabbed the unconscious Hyuuga and jumped away, evading a swarm of Shino's insects. Her dark-skinned teammate kicked Kiba, sending him to the ground, then threw a few kunais and shurikens in Shikamaru and Chouji's direction. He turned around and jumped over a low sweeping kick from Sayuri. He attacked with a downside kick, trying to beat her into the ground, but his leg was deflected by Naruto. He jumped away, avoiding the redhead's kunai slash.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" Sasuke shouted, breathing a ball of fire in their direction. Everybody jumped away. Three Kumo ninjas leaped back together, with Hinata on the kunoichi's shoulder, still unconscious. And then, not wasting any time, they turned around and jumped between the trees.

"Hinata!" Sayuri shouted, leaping after the kidnappers, quickly followed by Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Shino. Kaisha was still looking with wide eyes, Shikamaru and Chouji, after a quick glance, jumped to join the pursuit, with Ino and Sakura after them. And Kikuske... was hiding behind the tree, sweating and shaking from head to toe.

Naruto looked behind and saw that everyone followed them in the pursuit. He saw frown on Shikamaru's face and knew that they're thinking about the same thing: How did they got inside the village unnoticed?

He also saw the look on Sakura's face. She was horrified. She certainly wasn't prepared for this, in both skill and mind. Ino was looking slightly better, but still wasn't the best. Naruto slowed down and allowed the girls to catch up with him.

"Sakura, go back to..."

"What? No way!" Sakura shouted, though a bit shaky, "Why should I listen to you? I want to..."

"Sakura," He interrupted loudly, "It's Sasuke's request," _'Sorry, but it's the fastest way,' _"Go to the village and alarm them."

"Alarm?" Ino asked, confused.

"No, tell them to go to sleep, few unnoticed foreign shinobi is nothing to worry about," Naruto said sarcastically, "We absolutely don't need their help, few genins can handle them."

"Okay, okay, I get it." The Yamanaka heir looked a bit annoyed.

Sakura was torn. On one hand, she wanted to help. On the other, she was terrified. But after second thought she realised that by going to the village she would help, while still staying out of it. "I'll go."

Naruto nodded and accelerated, while Sakura jumped away. He caught up with Kiba, Sayuri, Shikamaru and Sasuke just in time to see the last one performing some hand seals.

"Fire Sty..."

"Stop!" Naruto interrupted, "You will hurt Hinata!"

Sasuke growled and glared at him, "Then what am I supposed to do? We had to stop them somehow!"

Naruto bit his bottom lip, thinking hardly.

"They aren't going straight," Shikamaru noticed, "It looks like they want to go around the outskirts."

"Would we be able to catch them if we go through the village?" Sayuri asked.

"Probably."

"But what if they turn somewhere?" Kiba reasoned.

"We don't have much choice," Naruto stated, "Kiba, Sasuke, Sayuri, let's go through the village. The rest, follow them further."

"And why should we listen to you?!" Ino asked, loudly.

"Ino," Naruto said calmly, sending her a glare, "After this I will allow you to scream at me why until my ears start bleeding. Though I would appreciate it if you don't. But if you don't have any better ideas then let's try this one."

She glared at him with venom in her eyes, but stayed quiet. Naruto actually expected more complains. It looked like he had to give his former classmates some credits.

"Leave your clones," Shikamaru proposed, "Maybe they won't notice."

"Alright!" Kiba exclaimed, "We're going to beat the crap out of them, right Akamaru?" Said dog barked in agreement from his place in Kiba's jacket.

"Hn," Sasuke snarled.

"Let's catch them first," Naruto cooled him down, pulling a tag from one of his trousers' pockets. He caught Shikamaru's interested look but shrugged it off.

They created clones for each other. Team 10 with Shino and clones continued their pursuit, while Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Sayuri bolted to the right.

When the emerged from the forest and jumped through the first roofs Naruto concentrated... and cursed. During his night trips he had to avoid ANBU patrols almost every ten minutes, and now he couldn't feel anyone above the roofs aside from them. Even more, why didn't they notice foreign ninja in the middle of the village?

Four genins ran quietly through the roofs. They wanted to catch them, not outran them by miles, so they didn't go through the middle of the village, but rather shot through the outskirts.

When they reached the forest again Kiba spoke.

"So what now? Traps?"

"Where?" Sayuri asked with a hint of anger, "You know where they would come through?"

"She's right," Sasuke said, "Without their precise position we would have to trap the whole forest."

"Kiba," Naruto spoke, "Are you able to find them?"

"I could try, but... even if I sense them it would be already too late," Kiba scratched the back of his head, "If they don't bump on us I won't be of much help."

'_Damn it,' _ Naruto thought, _'Why didn't I take Shino?'_

"Let's scatter. We'll cover more terrain that way," Sasuke ordered, turning around.

"Wait," Naruto stopped him, "We won't be able to hold them if we scatter. Or maybe you think that you can take the three of them on your own?"

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He was starting to get pissed by this. How the hell this deadlast was always making a good point? Because, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was sure that he will have problem with even one of the Kumo shinobi.

"We have to stay together. Our only chance is to surprise them, catch Hinata and run as fast as we can."

"Run?" Kiba asked, surprised, "Why should we run? If we hold them for a while, Shino and the rest will catch up, and together we will beat the crap out of them!" He ended with a battle look and a fist in his palm.

"I don't think so," Naruto cooled him, "They have to be at least chunnins. Nobody would send genins inside the foreign village. And on top of that something is going on in Konoha. We haven't seen any ANBU, so they had to be summoned somewhere else. We don't have time to play here."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Kiba burst. Not that anyone believed him.

"So what's the plan?" Sayuri asked, wanting to end the chit-chat and get to rescuing Hinata.

In respond Naruto sighed with resignation and make a cross-shaped handseal.

"Wind Clone Technique."

* * *

Kumo ninjas were speeding in a formation through the forest, with the dark-skinned in front as a lookout, the kunoichi in the middle, still carrying the unconscious Hyuuga, and the bald one as a rear guard.

Their rendezvous point was on the northern edge of the village. Thankfully, pursuing them genins weren't fast enough. As long as they won't bump into someone they should make it.

Suddenly Scar jerked his head to the right.

"What is it?" Kunoichi asked.

"...Nothing..." He said uneasily. He thought that he saw something by the corner of his eye, but he wasn't sure what. He wasn't even sure that he saw something.

What he didn't see was Naruto, who stormed through the open part of the forest just in front of his eyes, but still invisible. Maybe because he was melting with the surroundings. Or maybe because of his high speed, at least five times higher than the Kumo ninja's.

It was the nail in their grave. Cause half a minute later all shit broke the lose.

First was a huge fireball, shot from the left, that hit the trees in front of them, ablazing them and stopping Kumo ninjas. Then, from each side, came what appeared to be huge grey drills. They leaped back to avoid them.

Bald and Kunoichi jumped together to the left. The nodaichi wielder drew his blade just in time to deflect a hail of kunais that was send their way. Turning in the direction from where they came he saw Naruto, who jumped at him with another kunai in right-handed reverse grip. This time it was Bald's turn to be send backward. The power behind redhead's jump was so great that when he slammed into his opponent, clashing their weapons, he send him into the tree trunk. Unfortunately, Kumo ninja managed to back flip and land on the tree.

While Baldy was busy deflecting Naruto's hail, Kunoichi turned around to face Sayuri, who also jumped on her from the tree. Blond drew kunai with her left hand and was preparing to defend when she felt few taps on her right shoulder and back. Her whole right arm and shoulder became numb. Hinata, who revealed to be conscious, used this to broke her grip and jump away from her.

Sayuri reached her in the same second. Distracted Blond barely managed to block her slash and evade the following kick. Sayuri tried few more hits, but, when she saw that the Kumo kunoichi managed to regain her balance, she retreated and jumped to Hinata's side. Seconds later next to them appeared Kiba, who had a gash on his right hand, with Akamaru at his side, and Sasuke, who, apart from a brush on his cheek, seemed unharmed.

"Run!" Naruto yelled, jumping in front of them and throwing at least ten kunais at each enemy. All of the genins turned around and were about to jump when Baldy landed between them and brought his nodaichi in wide sweep, forcing them to scatter again. Everybody jumped away, apart from Naruto who ducked and slashed at Baldy's hip. Only his reflex and speed allowed the Kumo nin to avoid the injury. He leaped back quickly, slashing at the redhead again while moving back, forcing Naruto to jump back, right next to Sasuke.

"STOP!" The Uzumaki looked to the left. Scar was griping Hinata's wrist behind her back in his left hand, holding kunai at her throat, "Don't move or I'll kill her," The Kumo ninja said while his teammate jumped to his side.

"You need her too," Naruto responded, checking his classmates positions. Sasuke was behind him, Kiba was with Akamaru behind their enemy, holding his wounded arm, Sayuri was on right, ready to attack with a kunai in her hand. He also sensed somebody on the trees above them.

"I need my life more," Scar said. Naruto gritted his teeth, hiding his right hand behind his back and making handsigns for 'wait', 'me' and 'distraction'. He hoped that they saw it. Even if he had no idea what to do as a 'distraction'. If only Hinata could've use her hands...

"Sasuke," He muttered so low that only the Uchiha heard him.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted in confirmation that he is listening.

"Stab me in my left arm."

"What?" His voice was shocked, but thankfully he didn't rise it.

"Drop your weapons and kneel or she'll die," Scar shouted.

"I have a plan, trust me," Naruto whispered, rising his left hand to the same position as Hinata's captivor.

Sasuke thought about what he knew about the redhead. Quiet deadlast with sharp tongue who passed by a hair breath. And then he thought about what he saw today. Sharp tongue still there, a bit less quiet, and as for a deadlast...

"Okay," He whispered, "But just this once," He added quickly. Naruto only nodded.

Sasuke draw kunai from his hip pouch and thrust forward...

...stabbing Scar in the left arm, the one that was holding Hinata's. When the grip on her wrist lessened Hinata quickly trusted her right hand forward to keep the kunai away from her throat while attacking with her left palm blindly behind. She hit the Kumo ninja in the stomach, causing his internal organs to twitch. Adult Hyuuga would be able to destroy them with such blow, but she was only thirteen. Nevertheless, it was enough to force Scar to retreat, avoiding with sheer inch Sasuke's second stab.

In the meantime, when Naruto appeared between Blond and Bald he was greeted by a sight of the nodaichi coming at him in a horizontal slash. He summoned a kunai to his left hand and managed to catch it, but the force behind the blow was too big. His arm bend under it and Kumo blade sank into his arm hollowly, just under the shoulder. Ignoring the pain Naruto threw a few kunais with the other hand, forcing Baldy to retreat, and turned around, sensing that Blonde rushed at him.

Only to suddenly stop in the middle of the step.

"What the..." She started, but before she managed to say anything more, she suddenly became limp. Naruto and Bald were looking at her in surprise, until she rose her head and grinned triumphantly.

"Mind Invasion Technique complete," she said with a satisfaction. Then the grin disappeared as she swayed lightly, "But you better hurry up, I won't hold her for too long," she added, looking at Naruto, while the shadow attached to her from the bush retreated.

The redhead turned around to his opponent. Just behind the swordsman he saw a swarm of insects approaching him. Bald must have sense them somehow, or he saw something on Naruto's face, cause he jumped away. Still, a few of them managed to stick to him.

Naruto turned once again, this time to see Scar pushed to defence by combined attacks from Sasuke, Sayuri and something that looked like a huge boulder. Wounded arm surely wasn't helping him.

And then he sensed a few peoples approaching them from south-west. In the same moment Hinata spoke, "S-somebody... ANBU! I see A-ANBU a-and S-sakura-san on s-s-south-e-east!"

Hearing this Scar and Bald jumped on the trees. In the same moment Blonde groaned and swayed, but quickly stood straight and was about to join her teammates, but Ino and Shikamaru jumped in front of her, blocking her way. The rest of the genins quickly rushed to their site, apart from Shino who stayed hidden up on the trees, though his insects were still flying around.

This sight welcomed the four ANBU when they came onto the scene, taking positions around the genins. Few seconds later a little winded Sakura landed amongst them.

"You alright?" She asked worriedly, looking (surprise, surprise) at Sasuke, who (surprise again) ignored her.

"Hah! They're nothing for us!" Kiba exclaimed proudly. Akamaru barked at his side, while the others sweatdroped.

"Hn. Said the one wounded," Sasuke muttered.

"What was that?!"

"Shut up," Naruto hissed, "I'm listening. And be on guard."

"... of fresh genins managed to hold you back," One of the ANBU, with Raven mask, was actually talking, "And you were supposed to be the powerfull Kumo chuunins!"

"Yea, they're an interesting bunch," Bald responded.

"Guys, chit-chat later, now could somebody help me with that?" Scar asked, still clenching his stabbed arm, "It hurts like hell!"

"You should endure this," Said another ANBU, Sheep. Voice, figure and the way of moving showed that it was a woman. She walked forward, coming closer to their enemies without a hint of worry or hostility, "Are you a shinobi or not?"

"Shut up," Scar muttered, letting her come closer and touch his arm with her hands, enveloped in green light.

"Damn, that's deep," Sheep whistled, "How did they even manage to wound you? You're a jounin, for Kami..."

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Kiba yelled.

ANBU and Kumo shinobi looked at the forgotten group of genins. Hinata and Sakura looked scared and confused, Sayuri and Ino too, but the last pair seemed ready to run. Or fight. Shino's insects were hovering around, their master still invisible. Kiba was holding a kunai in his left hand, Akamaru was growling at his side, his fur ruffled. Shikamaru was frowning, hands ready in his clan handseal. Chouji seemed like he didn't knew what to do. Sasuke had four shurikens in each hand, ready to spur into action.

"Oh yeah, sorry..." An ANBU with two blue strips across his mask stopped in half-word, felling something sharp and cold that cut through his clothes and was touching his skin in a place where started a hole for an arm in his armour, just under the armpit.

"Now..." He heard a voice, so cold that it sent shivers down his spine. "...you'll tell me what is going on here..."

Chouji, Ino and Sayuri were looking at Naruto with wide eyes. They were turned in the right direction, in the right time, yet they didn't see him. He just appeared out of nowhere behind the ANBU. In one moment he wasn't there, in the next he was already holding a kunai at his side.

Naruto's head turned, just in time to see another figure appearing on the scene. Hatake Kakashi jumped out of the woods, landing next to Blond.

"Naruto, stand down," Everybody looked at him, few curious, mostly confused, few suspicious. And one was the one of someone, who suddenly realized something.

"Troublesome." Naruto looked at young Nara. Shikamaru relaxed and looked back. He pointed with his head at Kakashi, then at the three foreign shinobi, at their classmates and then looked at Naruto again. Said redhead frowned, not sure what Shikamaru had on mind. And then he remembered why it all started...

"Fuck," He said quiet loudly, stepping back and letting the ANBU go. Said masked ninja released his breath and turned around.

'_Damn,' _He thought,_ 'If they will hear who sneaked on me they will kill me with laughter.'_

"Oh! Looks like somebody looked through us!" Scar mused in an amused tone.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Sakura screeched, not noticing how everybody around he grimaced.

"If you don't tell us we will send Sakura between you," Sayuri threatened with a finger in her ear.

Kumo shinobi shuddered, "Wait, we will tell you everything!" Scar said quickly, rising his hands in a defending manner with a nervous laugh, "You see, this..."

"You should probably drop it first," Kakashi interrupted.

"Oh yea, sure," Scar said. He and his teammates rose their hands in half-tiger handseal and said in unison. "Kai!"

Three Kumo ninjas disappeared in a poof of smoke. In their place stood now three jounins that came onto the academy roof the day before to look after Kakashi. The one with the beard sheathed his nodaichi with a huge grin on his face.

"Sensei?!" Ino yelled.

"K-kurenai-sensei..." Hinata stuttered.

"What the hell is going on?!" Kiba shouted.

"Toriko-sensei, what..." Sayuri started.

"Calm down," The long-haired jounin said, coming closer and placing his left, now healed, hand on her shoulder, "Come here guys we will explain everything," He added, looking at the rest of their class.

They gathered around, noticing the proud looks that they received from their teachers... aside from Kakashi who looked as lazy as always.

"First, we want to congratulate you all," Asuma started with a grin, "You passed."

"Huh?"

"Passed? Passed what?" Kiba asked.

"It was all just a..."

"... test," Shikamaru muttered. This gave him a few surprised looks, and one pissed.

"Not everybody is a genius, Shika," Ino said with irritation, "Can you tell us what the hell do you mean?"

"Genin test, Ino." Naruto muttered, sitting down under the nearby tree, "The one they were talking about yesterday."

"Well, well, looks like you really understood everything." Toriko mused with a small grin, "Maybe you two will also explain to your friends what it was about?"

"Sorry, too troublesome."

Naruto didn't even bother to answer. Kakashi sighed seeing his already closed eyes. "Oh come on! Don't be so cold!" Toriko exclaimed with a childish pout. Few genins chuckled at his antics.

"Looks like we have to do it," Kurenai decided. Seeing that none of her fellow jounins seemed willing to start she sighed and continued, "Look, normally, when jounin recieve a team of genins he put them through some test. For example, Asuma..." She pointed at the bearded jounin, "...is challenging his students to fight him, I was going to hide and let you find me, and so on. Point of those tests is to find out if you can work as a team. It was just in this year that we decided to change it a little."

"Why." Saying that Sasuke 'asked' would be too much. It was rather a demanding.

"Our sweet little secret," Toriko said cheerfully with a happy grin.

"So... we passed?" Ino asked uncertainly.

"Yes. All of you worked together... even if not so willingly..." Kakashi said, looking at Ino, Sakura and Sasuke, who just 'hn'-ed. Around him the genins started cheering.

"Sasuke-kun! We made it!" Sakura screamed, launching herself at her crush, only to be pushed aside by Ino.

"Sasuke-kun..." She started with a small blush, so sweetly that it was making the others sick, "...maybe we could go celebrate this... on a date?"

"Yea, sure! Sasuke-kun is going with me, Ino-pig! Right, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura screeched.

"And why is that, forehead?!" Blond's blush and puppy eyes disappeared, replaced by an annoyed frown. Her voice also wasn't so sweet anymore.

"Cause we're on the same team!"

"So? It still won't destroy our love!"

Everyone sweatdroped. Sayuri shocked her head. She also liked Sasuke. He was just too gorgeous to not like him. But she would never embarrass herself, and him, like that.

"Condolences," Naruto muttered under his breath. Sasuke, who during his fangirls' fight tried hard to stay calm, was about to say something, but he realized that the redhead actually could understand him. Even if most of the Academy girls were fawning after him, Naruto also had a few fangirls that were considering his red hair and whisker marks cute. They weren't as drastic as Sakura or Ino, probably cause Naruto bluntly said them that he is not interested in them, but stalking (at least tries), smiles and sweet talks were still present.

Jounins and ANBU were looking at this with amusement and a bit of nostalgia. "Okay guys, you're free for today," Kakashi decided to interrupt, "Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, training ground 7, 7 a.m., tomorrow. Don't be late!" Kurenai and Asuma made similar announcements and then all three waved and walked toward the village, talking about something quietly.

"Toriko-sensei, what about me?" Sayuri asked, "Kaisha and Kikuske..."

"...didn't make it. Normally you would fail with them..." He trailed off. Brunette's head lowered, "But..." He grinned seeing her face shooting up with a hopeful look, "...you showed great potential, and you're working with others," Toriko made a thoughtful expression and rose a hand to his chin. Then his features lighted theatrically. Few chuckles sounded through the forest, "I know! I'll talk with Hokage. Maybe I will take you as an apprentice, or we put you in other team. We'll see," He grinned at her, "Meet me at the Hokage Tower tomorrow around eight, ok? Asuma, don't you..." He looked around and trailed off, "Where are they?"

"They've already left," Chouji said, pointing towards the village with a pack of chips.

"WHAT?! HEY, WAIT FOR ME!" And with that he bolted after his fellow jounins, followed by another chuckles and laughs.

"You have a crazy sensei, Sayuri," Kiba said, with Akamaru barking in agreement.

"Yea..." Chouji spoke, "Hey, how about we all go to the BBQ to celebrate this?"

"Yea, good idea! Let's go!" Kiba exclaimed and was about to follow their senseis, but a hand yanked his hood, stopping him.

"Not so fast, young man," Kiba turned around to see Sheep standing right behind him. Rest of the ANBU team already disappeared, "What about that arm?"

"Oh, it's only a scratch," Inuzuka said proudly, only to hiss in pain from his 'scratched' arm.

"Yea, suuure," Sheep said ironically, "Come here."

"But..."

"You can join them later. And the other one too."

"I don't need your help," Naruto muttered.

Sheep sighed and reached toward Uzumaki. The redhead's eyes widened when her hand came closer. He rolled out of her reach and jumped another few feet away.

"I said, I don't need your help," He said coldly.

"Okay, okay, I'm not going to do anything," Sheep said quickly, rising her hand in a peaceful manner.

"N-naruto-k-kun?" Hinata stuttered, and seeing that he's turning around she called after him. "N-Naruto-kun, y-you're n-n-not c-coming with u-us?" Naruto looked at her over his shoulder. Hinata's huge blush disappeared when she saw his sky-blue eyes, _'Cold...'_

"Why should I?" His voice was even colder than his eyes, "I don't like you, you're not going to like me, so why bother?"

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, "She's trying to be polite, you should be nicer!"

"Like I care." The redhead muttered. He turned around and walked away, fading, melting with the surrounding bush.

"What's wrong with him?" Ino asked, looking at the place where the Uzumaki disappeared, and wondering what his strange reaction towards Sheep meant. Seeing frown on Shikamaru's face she knew that she wasn't the only one.

"N-naruto-kun..." Hinata whispered.

"Don't bother with him, Hinata!" Sakura exclaimed, "Let's go! I have a da..." She stopped in mid-word, seeing her crush walking away, "Sasuke-kun! You're not coming?"

"No."

"WHY?!" Her voice held so much pain that everyone around were filled with a feeling of compassion... or rather would be if only they wouldn't have been filled with pain from their ears.

"Hn. I'm going to train."

Seeing Sakura's mouth opening everybody quickly used substitution. Good choice, considering that even thirty feet away they all groaned in pain.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

* * *

**And here we have another chapter.**

**This is an example for what I've meant in the previous chapter. Changed exam came from the previous change, not because I just decided it like that. Jounins noticed that Naruto was holding back, and because they're expecting that he'd continue it on a normal exam they decided to push him a bit. Simple.**

**Oh and one thing. When I write that Naruto 'sensed' someone, I don't have on mind instinct or something like that. In my story Naruto is a sensor. Why... It'll be explained later, I don't want to spoil the fun. I will only say that it has something to do with Wind Clones.**

**Well, that would be all. Until next time, guys!**

* * *

**Updated 04.04.2015**


	4. 04 - Whys and Hows

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

Hokage looked up from his desk when somebody knocked to his office's door. He allowed to enter, inwardly thanking whoever it was for a brake in fight with his Nemesis. He was fighting since dawn, nonstop, without rest, but still he was losing. Brushing aside his restless foe, devil reincarnation – paperwork - he looked at the four Jounins lining in front of his desk. Genjutsu Mistress Yuhi Kurenai, his son Sarutobi Asuma, Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi and current Assassination Specialist Kasumi Toriko. All four were ones of his bests.

„Hokage-sama, you summoned us?" Asked politely Kurenai.

„Yes, I did. You four didn't came for today Jounins Meeting."

„We're sorry Hokage-sama." Said Toriko, looking like a scared kid. „We're in the middle of a test in that time. You see, we did a little... more original test today and we..."

„I was informed about your little change." Interrupted Hokage. „Don't worry." He added seeing Toriko's fearful face (which he was sure was only an act) and Kurenai's worried look. „I'm not mad for this or anything. It was a good test, it showed how they would react in danger. I just want to be warned beforehand in the future. Now, what I want to know is why did you changed the test and what have you learned about your teams."

Normally, he wouldn't occupy himself with a fresh genin's tests. Jounins were just telling him who passed and for some time it was all. Not that he considered it insignificant, he just didn't had time for every single shinobi. But this group was more interesting. First, strange test that they went through. He wanted to know if it was more effective than the normal ones. Second, this class had many clan heirs in it. Only five of the twelve Genins weren't heirs or heiresses. Even Naruto was a heir of Uzumaki clan, even if he didn't knew that. Yet.

This boy was also his third reason to be interested.

While he was thinking about all this, the Jounins in front of him were jumping in joy and relief. Inwardly, of course. On the outside they didn't showed any sign of their emotions. They were all worried that Hokage would decide that they pushed their Genins too hard and take the teens from them. And after their test the Jounins were too curious for that.

„I think I should start since it was my idea." Said cheerfully Toriko. „You see, Hokage-sama, when I was getting to know each of my Genins yesterday I had a feeling... you know, down there, in guts, or how they're calling this..." He trailed off a bit, looking out of the window with thoughtful expression until Asuma nudged him. „...huh? Oh yea... never mind. Where was I... Oh right, the feeling. When I was talking with them I was certain that they wouldn't make it. Sasakiba Kikuske was and arrogant jerk that... Oh, sorry, Hokage-sama... that thought that thanks to his father's position we would give him everything, just like, as I suspect, his academy teachers. Karuski Kaisha... she just wasn't a material for a kunoichi. She was only thinking about glory of shinobi. She wasn't ready even for a normal life, not talking about ninja lifestyle. But the last member, Sayuri, an orphan... she was interesting. Hard-working, determined. I wanted to try her, but normal test would give me only part of her skills, and with such teammates I wouldn't learn anything about teamwork and all that stuff. So I came up with a plan, and asked my sensei-mates." He pointed at the other Jounins in room. „To join me. Then we found another reason to do this. You see, after what Kakashi told us about Uzumaki Naruto we're all curious what he's really capable of. We're sure that in a normal test he would still hold back, so we decided that we need to push him a little harder. And it worked!" He ended with a grin, like a child that just accomplished his little project and came for a reward.

Hokage chuckled. He liked Toriko. Even after a life as an assassin he still had his kind, childish spirit. At least out of the battlefield. During fight long haired Jounin was calm, logic and cold. Somebody who didn't knew him might have thought that he had split personality. _'Well... maybe he has.'_ Thought Hiruzen with another chuckle.

„Good, now I understand why. And it's good to know that Konoha's Jounins are still in great shape as far as ingenuity is concerned." They all nodded in thanks. „Now, what can you tell me about your teams?" He asked looking to his right, at his son.

„I can definitely say that I'm pleased... and surprised." Started Asuma. „After I talk with them I thought that I received a lot of work. They had potential, I'm not saying they don't, but they just seemed not ready, then and there. I saw undecided fangirl, shy, gentle and harmless Akimichi." He used clan's name to not use taboo word. Better safe than sorry. „And a lazy, skill less sleepyhead who only wanted to watch clouds all day. But during their test they worked together, already showing great teamwork. They surrounded us when we're busy with the others, used Naruto and Chouji's attack as a distraction and caught Kurenai with a combination of Nara and Yamanaka techniques." Said Jounin Kunoichi seemed a bit embarrassed that she allowed few Genins to catch her off guard. „Kakashi also said that it was Shikamaru who made most of the plans. Maybe he inherited something from his father."

Nara Shikaku, Shikamaru's father, was the most intelligent shinobi in Konoha. He was also Konoha Jounin Commander and, as a head of the Nara Clan, member of the Shinobi Council.

„So I assume that you passed them?" Asked Hokage.

„Yes. I, Sarutobi Asuma, am officially passing Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji as the new Team 10."

Hiruzen nodded and turned to his another Jounin. „Toriko?"

„Huh?... Oh yea sure..." Long-haired Jounin trailed off for a few seconds before he started. „Like I said before, I wasn't expecting too much from Kikuske. Kaisha froze during the attack. She avoided injures only because Naruto used substitution to get her out of our way and place himself in it, which was great show of skill and fast thinking... but it isn't my place to talk about this. Back to our princess, when I came looking for her to her house I learned that she came back with tears in the eyes and locked inside her room. She told me that she doesn't want to be shinobi anymore. As for Kikuske, during the attack he hid, first behind Hinata, and when he saw that we're coming that way, behind the tree. Like Kaisha, when he get hold of himself, he run to his home. Then he started screaming about a... battalion of Iwa shinobi... yes, Iwa... how he fought them and then managed to outrun them, and when I came he started accusing me for allowing them to enter the village and risk his life, yelling that his father will punish me and, when I said that it was a test and that he failed, asking me how much his father have to pay me." Normally Toriko was very friendly towards everybody, but this time Hokage clearly heard disgust in his voice. „Now, in Sayuri's case... she was good. As I expected, she made it. She quickly reacted to our attack, first took off after us, then she carried her part of the plan without any troubles. She even, together with Sasuke and Chouji, managed to push me to defense, showing not bad teamwork..."

„So what do you want to do with her?" Interrupted Hokage. He knew that if he would allow for it, Toriko would continue convincing him until midnight... or even longer if he would have to. „Put in some other team?"

„Actually... I want to take her as an apprentice." Said Jounin, kind of shyly, like a kid expecting yelling and scorning. But Hokage wasn't yelling. He was too surprised for this. He couldn't remember how many times he heard Toriko assuring him that he doesn't want an apprentice, that his specialty is not good for teaching young genins. Assassin as a sensei? After his praises Hokage thought that he just didn't wanted to waste Sayuri's talent only because of bad luck during team forming, but...

„Why?"

„Because I have a feeling that she'd became a great kunoichi. She already has great skills, and she's determined. She isn't going to withdraw. And..." Assassin's look once again trailed outside of the office. „... I think I knew her mother. And if I'm right, then I have a debt to pay. That's why I'm asking for a permission to take Sayuri as an apprentice."

Hokage nodded. He would have to check him sometimes, that would be his first student after all, and personal apprentice at that, but he was rather calm.

„Permission granted. Sayuri would became your apprentice. Now..." He looked at his next Jounin, who was now sporting an orange book. „Kakashi?"

„Hmm? Oh, sure..." He put his book to in pouch, hiding it from Kurenai's murderous glare. Poor little thing almost burned under it. „Well, my opinion may not be too accurate, since I was a little... late." Hokage chuckled seeing Kurenai's glare now located on him, while Asuma and Toriko were looking at him with amusement. „I caught up with them just after the first attack." Kakashi scratched the back of his head. Maybe he's trying to look embarrassed. Or maybe he felt Kurenai's look. Hokage wasn't sure. „Anyway... Sakura. From the first impression a fangirl, more concerned about her look than training. According to Asuma's words she froze during the first attack. But then she made the right decision and went for help. ANBU told me that she came terrified, but her report was precise and she refused to stay behind. She didn't fought so I can't tell anything about her skills. Now, Sasuke... Well, he really deserved his Rookie of the Year title. He already know C-rank elemental technique, his skills are great. His teamwork... well it's not totally hopeless, he worked with Sayuri and Chouji. He's a little too fast to jump into an action, but once he rethink problem he also show that he's smart. All in all, he's a really good shinobi with great potential. Though he isn't too careful, he could harm Hinata with his fireball. And... Naruto..." Kakashi smirked under his mask seeing how Hokage leaned forward, not able to contain his curiosity. „I was right when I said that he's holding back. He's fighting on the same level as Sasuke, make few plans. I also think that he's some kind of a sensor. During the pursuit they split, and when the other group reached the fight he made few hand signs toward them while they're still hidden. Though on the other hand he didn't sensed me underground. Maybe he just saw something above."

Hokage frowned. Normally, sensors were sensing chakra around them, but if he didn't sensed Kakashi using technique to travel under the surface then that wasn't this.

„Anything else?"

„Hai. Did you ever heard about Wind Clones?"

„I was trying to make it." Said Asuma before his father could answer. „It's a failure. They're unstable. I only managed to make them last few seconds before they dispelled."

„Well, his survived a bit longer."

„You sure?" Asked Hokage, while Asuma was looking in disbelief.

„Yes. He made half a dozen of terribly fast clones and send them to find out where are the kidnappers. When I looked at them with a Sharingan..." Kakashi pointed at his covered eye. „...they looked like made without chakra surroundings. The air was flowing through them, in and out. If I'm right, he's the first one who managed to create them."

„Academy student managed to create his own technique?"

„It looked like that."

„Impossible..." muttered Kurenai.

„Somebody is teaching him?" Asked Toriko.

„I don't know, but..."

„Let's leave it for another day." Interrupted Hokage. „Now, Kakashi, you're passing them, right?"

„Of course, Hokage-sama. I have a little doubt about Sakura, but she was concerned about her teammates..."

„...at least one of them..." Muttered Toriko.

„...so I think I can give her a chance."

„Good, now that leave us only Kurenai." Hokage looked at the only woman in the room.

„Hai, Hokage-sama." Said Kurenai, forcing herself to not stand at attention. As a Jounin and one of the best genjutsu users she didn't had to do this, apart from the official occasions, but she still wasn't used to this familiarity with the most important person in the village. She was a Jounin only for a few months. „During the test my team didn't had many occasions to use their specialty – tracking. Only Shino used his bugs to track us during the pursuit. As for their performance I'm quite pleased. Kiba, as I thought, is hot-headed, but once somebody told him what to do he did his job great. Shino, wisely, used his insects while he stayed hidden in the bush to gain some time for others. Hinata actually surprised me. First when she didn't froze during our attack. She fought back, even if a little sloppy. Then when she waited for the others and used their attack as a distraction to free herself and weaken me. I'm pleased with their performance and that's why I, Yuhi Kurenai, am officially passing Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata as a new Team 8."

Hokage nodded in acknowledgment. _'Looks like we have more than few promising students this year.' _He thought.

„Kakashi." When one-eyed Jounin looked at him Hokage continued. „I want you to find out on what level Naruto really is. Toriko, I want you to come here in two weeks with a report about your apprentice progress. Understood?"

„Hai, Hokage-sama." They said in unison.

„Good. You're dismissed."

They walked out, closing the doors quietly. When they're already out of the office Asuma turned to Toriko. „So who was Sayuri's mother?"

„I have no idea."

„What? But you said..."

„I did." Toriko turned with a huge grin. „Cause it's touched Old Man's soft spot."

* * *

„WHERE THE HELL ARE THOSE TWO!"

Even Sasuke's poker face, world level one, faded into a flinch when certain pink-haired Banshee screamed.

They're waiting at the training ground seven. Two hours. Again. But for some reason Sasuke wasn't surprised. After he came he sat under the tree and prepared himself for a long waiting.

As for Sakura, at first she's at bliss. She's alone with her Sasuke-kun! _'At last.' _She grinned. _'My chance!'_. She quickly get her hair right, adjusted her dress and entered the clearing. Looking around to make sure that they're indeed alone she came closer, trying to look as adorable as she could, and started bugging Sasuke about date. But even she managed to understand that she wouldn't gain anything after an hour of ignoring. Waiting after this for another hour, in all her embarrassment and humiliation, was wearing her small reserves of patience very thin.

„Sakura." Said VERY calmly Sasuke, first time this morning actually.

„Yes, Sasuke-kun?" Asked Pinkette, slipping in her too-sweet self.

Before he could answer Naruto appeared in front of them. 'Appeared' was a good word, because the only thing they saw was, as Sasuke now realized, something on the corner of his eye he didn't even check.

„AAAH!" Screamed Sakura, jumping back and almost falling. „NARUTO! What the hell are you doing?! Don't scare me like that!"

„Huh?" He looked at her, seaming genuinely confused. „What?"

„You appeared out of nowhere! AND WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

Naruto looked at Sasuke. „That's why I wasn't here." He muttered and then turned to his female teammate, pointing behind with his thumb. „I was on the other side of the clearing."

„LIAR!"

„Shhh... please, be quiet, you don't have to attack me."

„Attack? What attack?" Asked dumbfounded Sakura.

„You know, that screaming... you use that voice as an attack, don't you?"

„BAKA!..." Sakura continued her assault, Naruto turned her off and Sasuke was still sitting under his tree with expressionless face. Though inwardly he was chuckling slightly. During academy he was seeing Naruto only as tolerable... which in Sasuke's case was actually quite high. Redhead was normally awfully quiet, but once he started mocking someone it's always a show worth seeing.

Sasuke might have even liked him... if only he wouldn't have been so weak...

This was the sight that greeted Kakashi when he came about a minute later.

„YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura changed the target of her attack.

„Maa, maa, I just saw a black cat that crossed my path, so I had to take longer way around the village to avoid bad luck."

„LIAR!" Few more strikes and one-eyed Jounin's defense will crumble. Boys only sweatdropped at his poor lie. Inwardly.

„Okay, okay, listen up. We have a few things to discuss." Said Kakashi, ignoring fuming Sakura and making a mental note to bring ear plugs tomorrow. „First, about our daily schedule. From now on, you are going to come here every day at 7 a.m., apart from Sunday, which would be free... if I don't say otherwise. We'd do a little warm-up and then go on a mission or do some training. After mission, if we'd still have some time, we can also train a bit. I know it's quiet broad plan but with time we'd add another thing. Any questions?" He waited few second, and seeing no objections he continued. „Now, before we start I want to talk about your yesterday's test."

Small flinch appeared on Naruto's face, but it disappeared almost in the same time. He was beating himself for not seeing through that damn test. He wanted to hide his skills, stay in the shadows. Sasuke's presence could have help him in it, he just needed to make sure that Uchiha would stay in the center of everyone's attention. But he allowed himself to fall into the first trick. Now those who hate him will again start to try to hold him back. And Kakashi could be one of them. He was one of those who were talking about him as a weapon... and a demon.

„Sit down, it might take a while." He waited, while Sakura sat on spot and Naruto stood next to the tree against which leaned Sasuke. „Good, Sakura, you first." Said Pinkette was staring at him with anticipation, already forgetting about her anger. „I don't have many things against you." Sakura's face beamed in happiness and a bit of pride. „You just wasn't ready." And it all disappeared. „You froze during your first encounter, not even trying to do anything. Don't worry, it's quiet normal in the first fight. You just have to work on it, so it won't happen again. On the other hand, the idea to go for reinforcements was great. Yours?"

„Ummm... actually, it was Sasuke-kun's..."

Kakashi looked at Uchiha with a rose eyebrow. Raven haired boy nodded, though Kakashi noticed that he seemed a bit confused.

„Okay..." Said Kakashi. „Well, Sakura, I can't say anything about your skills cause you weren't fighting, so I think that would be all. Now, Sasuke." Uchiha's face was as dark as his hair, but there was also an anticipation in his black eyes and his tensed muscles. „...You're good." Sasuke relaxed a bit and Sakura started cheering. „Your reaction to attack was fast, also during the chase and further fight you showed that you really deserve your 'Rookie of the Year' title. Just three things. First, restrain this pyromaniac inside you." Sasuke frowned, looking with a question in his eyes. „A bit bigger fireball and you could have burn the whole forest. Secondly, you were jumping into an action without thinking. It's your first fight, so it's understandable. Just, like Sakura, remember about this in the future. And last thing... watch out where you're firing your little sparkies." Sasuke send him a murderous glare for mocking his best technique. „You've almost hit Hinata on the clearing."

Sasuke looked down, deep in thoughts. This summary was pretty much what he's expecting. Nothing new about him being good. He was an Uchiha, they're always good. Comment about pyromaniac surprised him, but he knew what it's about. As for watching out for others... on one hand, he didn't cared. They're mostly just slowing him down. But on the other... when he recall that Naruto also stopped him later...

„Naruto's turn." Kakashi looked a his last student, noticing that even though he knew where Uzumaki stood he still had to focus to find his figure. „Now... can you tell me please... why were you holding back during academy?"

„Holding back? I wasn't." Naruto tried to play dumb, while Sasuke was looking interested and Sakura confused.

„Oh really..."

„Holding back?" Interrupted Sakura. „How can he hold back, he's an idiot, a deadlast." Her words hurt. He was thankful for her stupidity, it helped him... but it still hurt.

„Oh?" Disbelief was clearly visible in Kakashi's face... at least in what they saw of it. „So... he's an idiot deadlast without any talent that was the first to react to the attack? Who made most of the plans in the heat of the battle? And who managed to create his own technique while being still in the academy? That's what you meant, Sakura?"

Said Pinkette was about to shout that her Sasuke-kun is much better, that he was the one that make all the plans, that during fight Naruto only slowed him down, that it was Sasuke who reacted first... until she remembered that it was Naruto who saw their enemies first, he also tried to stop them before the others even noticed the danger. So if that part was true... No, it was Sasuke-kun who ordered her to go back for help... but it's Naruto's words... arghhhh!

Kakashi looked at his redhead student again. „From your academy folder you're deadlast of your group, with poor taijutsu, even worse ninjutsu, quite good stealth and no tactical sense. This is an opinion of Umino Iruka." Naruto knew what that meant. This was an opinion of the only teacher that was fair with him. It's exactly what Iruka thought about him, without any hate influence. „So, can you tell me how seemingly the worst one ended as the best of the whole group? Good reaction during the first attack, lack of freezing, good, fast thinking... actually I found only two mistakes." Naruto looked up curious, in the same time thinking that not seeing through their deception was probably one of them. „First, you should take Shino with you when you split up to flank the kidnappers. He'd easily track them down and help in preparing the trap."

Naruto nodded. He also thought about this when he was thinking how to track down Kumo ninjas. If only Shino would have been with them he wouldn't had to reveal his Wind Clones.

„Your second mistake was that stupid usage of substitution." This was something he didn't expected.

„Huh? Why? It worked perfectly, Hinata was freed and, if those ninja would have really been chuunins, they wouldn't have chance to react."

„You're right about Hinata, but about your enemies, they were too close. They sensed you."

„What do you mean by 'too close'?"

„Baka, when you use substitution or body flicker you are easy to sense for anyone near the place where you appear." Said Sakura in a 'you should know that' tone. But Naruto looked genuinely surprised.

„You didn't knew that?" Asked Kakashi. Naruto shocked his head.

„Idiot." Muttered Sasuke. „You should have listened. It was on the lessons."

„And in almost every book about it." Added Sakura.

Naruto looked away and mumbled something.

„Hmmm? What was that?" Asked Kakashi.

„I was thrown out of the class." Muttered redhead only a bit louder.

„Why?" Asked Sakura. Naruto didn't answered. „Then what about the books?"

„Librarian didn't allow me to come to the library."

„Why?" This time it was Sasuke.

„Not your business!" Naruto snapped loudly, pushing himself from the tree, turning around and dashing away, leaving his team a little stunned. Especially Sasuke and Sakura, who never before heard him saying something so loudly.

„What was that about?" Sakura looked at Kakashi, hoping that he would answer, but Jounin's expression was unreadable.

„Well, it looks like we won't go on any mission today." Kakashi sighed and looked at his remained students. „Take this day as free, tomorrow we start. So, 7 a.m., here, right?"

They nodded „What about Naruto?" Asked Sakura.

„Don't worry, I'll talk with him." Kakashi saw annoyed look on Sasuke's face. He wasn't sure what it was about, but shrugged this off for now. With a wave he disappeared using body flicker, hoping that Naruto didn't walked far away.

* * *

Kakashi found young Uzumaki by accident. He was looking after him for about four hours. Without effects. Resigned he went on top of the Hokage Mountain to think. That was when he spotted small figure sitting atop Yondaime's stone head. Kakashi only sighed and come closer.

Naruto was sitting with one leg straight, other one bend in the knee and one hand on said knee. He was leaning against one of monument's stone spikes. He didn't turned to look at his sensei, but Kakashi was sure that he knew about his approaching. One-eyed Jounin leaned, still standing, against the same spike and looked in the same direction as redhead, at the whole village. It was a middle of the day, so streets were very crowded. From here those figures were smaller than head of a pin.

„What are you doing here Naruto?"

For a few moments Uzumaki was quiet, before he mumbled. „Thinking."

„About?"

This time silence lasted longer, and when Kakashi thought that he isn't going to answer Naruto spoke. „About how I didn't noticed this substitution's defect."

This probably wasn't truth, but he was talking, so Kakashi decided to go on.

„And?" Jounin already had an idea for this, but he wanted to know if Naruto also thought about this.

„I'm a sensor." Kakashi nodded. He's suspecting this and his theory was based on this suspicion. „I sense people presence all the time, so when I sensed somebody using substitution I assumed that it was my ability to sense chakra."

Kakashi nodded again. „Yes, I thought about it too. But, you're wrong in one thing. You're not sensing chakra." This earned him a surprised look when Naruto finally turned to him. „You didn't sense me when I was following you during the test. I was using an earth technique to travel underground."

Naruto frowned. Now that Kakashi pointed that, he never sensed any techniques or anything like that. He thought that he just have to train more. On the other hand he sensed surroundings, like trees, walls and landscape. So, if what Kakashi said was true, then...

„...then what it is?"

„I have no idea." Kakashi shrugged. „It can be some kind of bloodline, or maybe just high intuition." He looked at his student and decided to try once again. „So, mind to tell me about your other abilities?"

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts. Until now he's in some kind of daze, but now he returned to his normal, suspicious, self.

„Why should I?"

„Because I'm your sensei." Stated Kakashi. „I could tell that you should trust me only because of this, or because I'm Konoha's shinobi, but for some reason I don't think you would listen. So, let me ask you, how can I give you some task if I don't know if you can handle it?" He was risking. He didn't knew what kind of person Naruto was, but he definitely wasn't trustful. So he tried to appeal to his duty sense.

To some point it worked. Naruto saw logic in Kakashi's words. But it was Kakashi who was talking about him as a demon. Naruto didn't trusted him. Even if one-eyed Jounin saved him back then...

Memories of an evening five years ago flooded into his mind. Memories full of fear. And pain.

_Punishment for the best score in the class. Two ANBU waiting in the dark alley. Viper and Owl. Run. Chase. Familiar alley in the slums. Bumping into someone. Mouse mask over a hand that reached to him. Pain, when he pinned him to the wall._

„_...kill him already..."_

„_...it's too weak punishment. Let's make him suffer..."_

„_...torture him. Somebody could find us..."_

„_...have some poison..."_

_Evil, cruel chuckle._

„_...and gag him. He's going to scream..."_

_Pain from a wound on an arm. Two new figures. Dog and Boar._

„_...hell is going..."_

„_...leave Captain... he killed your sensei... you want this too..."_

„_...really think so?..."_

_Metal hitting metal. Mouse, trying to stab him. Katana that deflected his kunai. Grip on his throat disappearing when Mouse jumped back. Another figure. Long, purple hair. Running again. Clangs of metal. Pain widening from his arm. Shouts._

„_Get back here, Demon!"_

„_WAIT, NARUTO!"_

„...ruto? Naruto!" Kakashi's voice brought him back out of his memories. He's again at the top of Hokage Mountain, on Yondaime's head. „You ok? You looked like you drifted away for a second."

„I'm okay." Naruto looked over the village before asking the question that he wanted to ask for five years. „...who was your Sensei?"

This surprised the one-eyed Jounin. On one side, he was pleased. This question meant that Naruto started to open up, even if only a little bit. But on the other hand...

„Why do you ask?" Naruto didn't answer. They're sitting in a silence for a few moments before Jounin spoke. „You're sitting on his head"

Kakashi was used to a lot of different reactions after this information. Disbelief. Jealousy. Admiration. But what he saw now was something new. Apart from normal surprise he saw grief and dyeing hope. Then he heard Naruto whisper. „So... you must really hate me, huh?"

Kakashi frowned. What the hell was he talking about?

And then, realization hit him. It was so simple that he started beating himself for not figuring it sooner. It was explaining almost everything.

„You know." That was why he was so mistrustful. So wary. So cold and separated. „When... How..."

„You're talking about a giant nine-tailed demon fox in my guts?" Naruto turned his head, looking at the village, hiding his pained look. „Remember the 'ANBU prank'?"

Kakashi nodded. How could he forgot? He's one of those who had to report it to the Hokage. He was an ANBU Captain in that time, but it didn't meant that he hadn't had guard duties. And on that night it was his shift.

Five years ago, under his and three more ANBU noses, somebody painted all ANBU armors in neon-green. They're only few untouched, the ones that were in use at that moment.

He still could remember Hokage's face when they appeared in his office in the morning. Shock quickly was replaced by a barely held amusement. After pulling himself together, and making sure that it was the only damage, he gave them a punishment. They're forced to use those armors for the whole two months until new ones arrived. Untouched ones were left for important missions. Kakashi also remembered laughter that he heard when they leaved Hokage's office. Hysterical laughter.

Needless to say, ANBU stealth skills were greatly improved during those two months. They're forcing themselves tenfold to stay out of sight. But even so, there were few seen. And a lot laughed at.

„You did that, didn't you." It's formed as a question, but its tone was like in a statement. Nevertheless Naruto answered.

„Yea... that supposed to be a payback for an ANBU attack on me few days earlier. But when I was done and was retreating I heard few ANBU talking about this attack. During..." He took a deep breath „...during their talk somebody said something around: 'as a Kyuubi jailor he's a great asset to Konoha. He's a weapon'. I put the rest together and figured what happened... and why everybody hates me..."

„They don't hate you." Interrupted Kakashi.

Naruto scoffed. „Yea, sure, and those attacks and hate filled glares are because they don't want to spoil me with all this love around me."

„That's not hate that they feel towards you."

„I can recognize hate once I see it." Naruto's voice was hinted with anger, his muscles visibly tensed as he clenched his gloved fists.

„This hate is not directed towards you, it's directed towards the Kyuubi." Kakashi looked at the village. People they were talking about were busy with their own business, unaware that this talk could result in defection of one of Konoha's greatest assets or even releasing the Biju. „During its attack twelve years ago Kyuubi killed a lot of people. They've left families, comrades, friends. All of them are filled with grief, they need someone to blame. And they have this someone here in the village. You just have bad luck, cause they can't reach the Kyuubi, which means that you happened to be on receiving end of all their hatred. But this hate is not directed towards YOU." Kakashi looked at his student. His body was still tensed under the black fabric of his sweatshirt and pants. „What they feel towards you is fear. Civilian don't know what you are, they don't understand it. Shinobi, who DO understand, are afraid that you'll lose control and release the demon." Kakashi stopped for a second, but decided to continue. Naruto didn't seem to him as someone who would appreciate hiding the bitter truth behind the pretty lies. „Naruto, Jinchuuriki never had an easy life. People are treating them like a ticking bomb. Even if you one day manage to get control of Kyuubi they'll still treat you like something different from them. They'll still be afraid, this time of the power that you'll posses. Some of them would try to take control of you because of that power."

„Happy perspectives." Muttered Naruto interrupting him.

„Yeah... but you don't have to cope with this alone. You just have to find those few people that would not care. That would see you as Naruto, not only as a Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

Naruto let out something between quiet chuckle and resigned sigh. „Easier said than done."

„You already have one." Kakashi send him his eye-smile. „You're my comrade now. You see, my teammate told me once: 'In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash'."

During his whole speech Naruto didn't turned, didn't relaxed. He didn't even twitched. Kakashi had no idea what was going on under that red hairs. He said everything in hope that Naruto would understand why he's treated like that and forgive them.

He's also hoping that it wouldn't work exactly the other way. He didn't wanted to hunt redhead down for defection.

„...chuunins... that's why they stopped..." Kakashi heard faint murmurs. He looked at Naruto. Uzumaki changed his position, with both knees under his chin and arms around them, mumbling something into his elbow.

„What was that?" Asked Kakashi.

Naruto just shocked his head, still deep in thoughts. Kakashi waited patiently, wondering in the meantime if he should say something else. But shrugged this off, deciding that he said what he could and that the decision is now up to Naruto.

Few minutes passed before Naruto finally moved. He stood up, turned around and walked away, not even looking at Kakashi.

„Naruto? Are..."

„Thanks... sensei." Interrupted Naruto with a slight hesitation before the second word, without turning around. Kakashi nodded, receiving an answer to his unspoken question.

And then he reminded himself why he started this talk anyway.

„See you tomorrow, Kaka..."

„Wait, Naruto! What about your abilities?" Naruto stopped and Jounin continued. „Don't you think you should tell your sensei what you can do?"

Naruto looked at him over his shoulder. His look was weary, calculating, but it wasn't as mistrustful as before. At least not that much. They're looking in each other eyes for a few seconds before redhead turned around. Kakashi could bet all his money that he saw his lips twitch in a small smile.

„And where would be fun in that, Dog?" And with that words young Uzumaki walked away, leaving one-eyed Jounin a bit stunned.

* * *

**Now few words of explanations.**

**First, sorry that it took so long... and that it's sucks. No matter what I do I just couldn't make it feel right. Everything I wrote just seamed awfully awkward. So I tried to rewrite it. But after the fourth time I decided that I just can't make it look better. That's why it took so long.**

**Second, Sayuri. At first I just added her and her whole team just to make the test more believable. You know, this 'oh so it's just happened that this few genins are special and received a special test' thing. It's believable, after all there are seven heirs in that group (and I'm counting right, Kiba is not a heir, his sister is), but with additional team it's just more probably. But after her performance I just didn't had a hearth to just make her fail. So I gave her a chance. Just great... I would have to involve her sometime later...**

**Naruto and wind clones. It's not that he's super skilled and he's going to show new jutsu every day. This one is special, and mostly accidental, and I will explain it later. Also, it's mostly useless. They're made without chakra surroundings, so they're even more fragile than standard clones. They're good for scouting and gathering information, though not as good as shadow clones, cause they don't send the memories.**

**Answers for reviews:**

_**Danilek12:**_**Thanks, I really appreciate it.**

_**plums:**_**Thanks again, though I'm kind of worried. I didn't meant it to look like Naruto can't stand anyone. He's antisocial, and obviously 'don't like' ANBU, but it don't relate to everyone. Also I couldn't totally change everything with Team 7 without making some excuse to do so. For now I only change Naruto's attitude, so I couldn't change, for example, team forming, especially since until now nobody noticed him.**

_**butterflypuss:**_** Thanks a lot, I have to try it.**

_**girrr:**_**Ugh... thanks... I think.**

_**Killa bee 8:**_** Thanks man.**

_**Luc1v3r:**_**Well, I'm in a pinch, cause I'm not fully understand what you mean by 'kishimoto ninja version'. So I'll just answer the other part. I read a lot of fan fictions, some bad, some just great, but there was always something missing. So I wrote mine. If someone wants, then he can send me his suggestions, but if I won't like it I'm not going to change it. Of course that could mean that some of you won't like my story, but oh well... I'm writing for myself.**

**And that would be all. Until next time, hopefully faster than this one.**


	5. 05 - First C-rank

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Though Rue, Hikate and Akiko are mine :D

* * *

When she heard rustlings below, Sakura looked down from her spot on the tree. It was very quiet, and normally Sakura would have shruggedthis off, but currently she was on watch. And after yesterday's fight her nerves were in shreds.

Under one of the trees, between which they were camping, Sakura saw something that resembled a long rock. Thanks to the weeks that passed since their team formed she knew that it was Naruto. Above him, in a weak light of a moon and stars, she saw the grey-haired figure of a small girl.

"Rue? What's going on?" Sakura heard Naruto's quiet whisper. "You can't sleep?"

The girl nodded reluctantly. Naruto sighed and moved on his futon, making a space by his side. Following his wave, Rue got into his futon and snuggled against the redhead's chest. Naruto put his left arm around the little girl and covered them with the other. A few more rustlings, and silence again took over the night.

Sakura looked at them for a few seconds before raising her eyes back up, scanning their surroundings. Her body was on guard, but her mind was wandering around what she saw a moment ago. And also about Naruto's previous words.

They were in the west of Fire Country, more or less a day away from the Fire – Rain border. Their team had received their first C-rank mission, and they were returning to the villeage after finishing it.

Sakura once again looked at her redheaded teammate. The moon's light was reflecting in his eyes as he looked at the sleeping girl next to him. His gaze was soft, so different from his ussual cold and unemotional one. But Rue somehow seemed to draw this out of him. How, Sakura had no idea.

And who was Rue? Well...

* * *

The week before…

"Target in sight."

"Surround him and wait for my mark," responded a lazy voice.

"One, in position," said a male voice with a hint of anger.

"Two, in position," said a female with resignation.

...

"Three, are you there?"

...

"Naruto, come in."

...

"BAKA! If you're sleeping again..."

"Target captured," reported a bored male voice.

Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura looked at their 'target'. They saw Tora, the Fire Daimyo's wife's cat, hovering in the air, held by some unknown power. It took them a few seconds before they noticed the red-haired figure standing next to it, holding the cat by its neck. Tora seemed so surprised by Naruto's sudden appearance that she wasn't even trying to scratch him.

"Naruto," sighed Kakashi, jumping down from the trees,"I said to wait for my mark." Sasuke and Sakura also jumped to their side.

"What for?"

"Because this mission is about improving your teamwork," responded Jounin, pointing at Sasuke and Sakura while saying 'your'.

"We have done this mission ten times," said Naruto."I think we already showed that we can work as a team."

"Nine times," corrected Kakashi. "Last week when we were painting the fence doesn't count. It wasn't our mission."

"But we caught this demon." Said 'demon' seemed to wake from his surprise and tried to scratch Naruto's face, but a stretched arm solved this problem."We're paid for it and it went in our records, so I think that it counts."

"But we..."

"Dobe is right," interrupted Sasuke, somewhat reluctantly. "We should have been doing something more important than chores like painting, delivering and catching this damn cat."

"Really?" asked Naruto. "I've never said that we should do something more important. Why are you dragging me into this?"

"Because you think so too," said Uchiha, glaring at him angrily.

"And how do you know what I'm thinking?"

Sakura and Kakashi sweat-dropped. It wasn't the first time thatthose two had fought. Kakashi couldn't understand why two seemingly so similar boys couldn't find common language.

"Ok, ok, calm down boys," Kakashi interrupted their little word duel."Let's go report to the Hokage and then we will talk about this ok?"

* * *

"That was fast," admitted the Hokage, looking at Team 7. "Thirteen minutes less and you would have beaten the record."

Kakashi sweat-dropped. The record, forty-three minutes and sixteen seconds, was set by Gai, one of his more... unusual friend, and his team. He was glad that they didn't beat it. 'Konoha's Green Beast' would never let him live with that.

"It's still early, so if you want I can give you another mission." The Hokage looked down, sorting papers on his desk."There's a house in the market district that has a broken roof, and Mizori-san wants to deliver..."

"No."

Kakashi sighed. He was thankful that he didn't receive Inuzuka, or any other loudmouth, overconfident, energetic brat, but he still was expecting that this would happen one day. Sasuke lost his patience.

"No" repeated the Uchiha."I've had enough of these chores. We're shinobi, not some builders or delivery boys, we want a real mission," he said, looking at his teammates. Naruto nodded almost unnoticeably, but his eyes were clearly showing that he was agreeing. Sakura wasn't so sure. She actually didn't mind D-ranks. They were easy, and she had a lot of time to be with her Sasuke-kun.

As for the Hokage, he was surprised. No, not because of Sasuke's outburst. Just like Kakashi, he was expecting this, he just wasn't sure which one it would be, Sasuke or Naruto. It happened in every team, sooner or later. What surprised him was the one-eyed Jounin's reaction. Or rather lack of it. Normally, a sensei would scold his students and take another D-rank, and then, after a month or two, they would return and ask for a C-rank, this time with their sensei. But Kakashi didn't do a thing.

"Kakashi?" asked the Hokage. When the Jounin looked at him Hiruzen raised his eyebrows.

"They're ready," responded simply Kakashi."Their teamwork is good, especially Sasuke and Naruto's... at least when they stop fighting and fooling around," he added, remembering one of their teamwork exercises, during which a blindfolded Sasuke bumped into a few trees and Naruto landed in the lake."There's still room for improvement, but I think that they're ready for a simple C-rank."

"If you say so" said Hiruzen, and , seeing the Genins' surprised looks, added "It's your sensei's job to ensure that you're ready, so if Kakashi is saying that you're ready then I'm willing to trust him. Now, simple C-rank..." The Hokage dived into his papers once again, mumbling "... Land of Lakes... no, not out of the Fire Country... track... but they're not tracking... oh! That should be good." He gave Kakashi a sheet of paper.

"Hmmm... bandit attacks... four villages... no shinobi training?" asked the Jounin, looking at his leader.

"According to reports they're normal thugs, without chakra knowledge," assured Hokage."The strongest ones are few beginner ronin."

"Ok, we'll take it," said Kakashi and turned to his students."Meet me tomorrow at 7 a.m. We will be out for about two or three weeks, but better safe than sorry, so pack for a whole month. You know what to do?"

"Hai," responded the Genins in unison.

"Good. That would be all. You're..."

"Ummm, Sensei?" interrupted Sakura."Could you at least tell us what is our mission?"

Kakashi shrugged, deciding that he could tell them now as well."Over a week's travel at West from Konoha four villages reported repeated attacks by a group of bandits. Our mission is to find their camp and take care of them. Any questions?"

Sakura was tempted to ask what does he meant by 'take care of them', but decided to leave it for now.

"Good" said Kakashi when nobody spoke."Now, you're dismissed"

While the Genins were leaving Kakashi turned around, wondering how he was going to convince the Hokage that he knew what he was doing.

* * *

Next day Sakura came to the village gates about an hour late, fully prepared to wait for her sensei for another hour. After over a month in a team with Kakashi she didn't believe that there was anything that could force him to come on time. Pinkette looked around in search for her teammates. Sasuke wasn't in sight, probably deciding to come even later. She wasn't sure about Naruto. She was used to his appearing a few minutes before Kakashi. Sakura wasn't sure if he was around, hidden, or if he was just almost as late as their teacher.

Sakura sat against the wall next to the gate, placing her huge backpack next to her. In the academy they were forced to memorise a long list of things that they should take on missions out of the village, and recite it even in their sleep. She was sure that most of those things weren't necessary, and that older, more experienced shinobi knew which ones to leave, but nobody told her, so she had to take everything.

Looking around again she drifted into her own thoughts, checking her own feelings. She found a bit of fear. This was her first time out of the village after all and she was going to have to fight. But most of all, she found excitement. Fight or no fight, this was her first C-rank mission! And above all, she was going to spend almost a whole month with her Sasuke-kun!

Her look became a little unfocused and a slight blush appeared on her face when her imagination showed her a vision of her Sasuke-kun, helping her up after saving her life, saying that he couldn't let anything happen to her and that he...

Sasuke, who just came to the gate, sighed seeing Sakura's face. He was pretty sure that he could guess what she was thinking about right then... unfortunately. _'If only she would put at least half the effort that she's putting into nagging me into a mission or training...' _he thought with resignation, adjusting his backpack straps and looking around for his other, not useless, teammate.

His opinion about Naruto improved greatly after their Genin test. Despite their fights he actually started to like the redheaded Uzumaki, his calculating mind and sense of humour. He was sure that this feeling was mutual. Ignoring Sakura, who seemed to just come out of her dream land and started bugging him, Sasuke looked around, trying to pinpoint Naruto's position. It was their little game. It wasn't hard to notice that the redhead's best skill was stealth, so he was trying to detect him as many times as he could. At the beginning he was failing miserably, but after a few weeks he noticed improvement. He could see Naruto when he wasn't intentionally hiding and he didn't have to search after Uzumaki while talking with him.

While Sakura continued her blabbering about how 'romantic' this trip was going to be, Sasuke looked toward the gate. He thought that he saw something there, next to the shed for Chunins on guard duty, but he wasn't sure.

"Enough of this, love birds, Kakashi's coming."

Sasuke sighed and turned around to the voice that came from behind. Looks like he was wrong about the Uzumaki's position. Again. Sakura also turned to their redheaded teammate, blushing madly at the 'love birds' part.

"How do you know?" she asked, fighting with her blush. Naruto was about to answer, but in that moment Kakashi jumped down from the roofs.

"Hi guys" he greeted them with raised hand and his eye-smile."Everyone here? Good. You're not late for your first C-rank. That's..."

"IT'S YOU WHO IS LATE!" shouted Sakura.

"Maa, maa, you don't need to yell. I just spotted this old lady who needed help with..."

"LIAR!" interrupted Pinkette.

Kakashi sweat-dropped and decided to ignore her. As always."Anyway, we're going out of the village, so be cautious. It's not like everything there is going to kill you, but better safe than sorry." The Genins nodded, Sakura still fuming, while Naruto was thinking that he would probably be safer outside."Good. You've got everything?"

Sasuke and Sakura adjusted their backpacks to show that they were ready. This was the moment when they looked at their teammate, noticing that he didn't have his own backpack. The only difference in his attire was a grey camo coat with wide sleeves and a hood.

"Yeah," responded Naruto to Kakashi's question.

"BAKA!" screamed Sakura at the top of her lungs, forcing her teammates to jump away from her sudden attack."WHERE IS YOUR BACKPACK?!"

"Owww..." muttered Naruto with a finger in his ear."Could you please not scream so loud when I'm around?"

"She still has a point," said Sasuke."You forgot your gear."

"No, I didn't," responded Naruto, pulling a book from his pouch."I have everything here."

"Seals?" asked Kakashi, seemingly totally lazy and uninterested. Naruto nodded in response. The Jounin only sighed and walked out of the village, waving at them to follow.

"Ok, if you're ready, let's go." With this, Kakashi jumped to the trees, his three students right behind. The silver-haired Jounin chuckled inwardly.

'_They're going to hate you, Naruto.'_

* * *

They hated him.

Sasuke and Sakura were stabbing Naruto in the back with their eyes. The sun was dawning and Kakashi had decided that they would stay for a night. They were now setting up a camp deep in the forest, near a small stream. Both Uchiha and Haruno were tired, their legs were sore and their backs hurt. On the other hand Naruto seemed as fresh as in the morning.

"If only looks could kill..." mused Kakashi quietly. He personally suspected that Naruto's energy had more to do with a giant ball of red fur in his guts than his sealed equipment, but his other students didn't know about this little detail.

"You said something Kakashi?" asked Naruto, laying his unsealed futon under the tree.

Kakashi sighed."You really should refer to me as Sensei, you know"

"Well, I probably could." Naruto pretended to think."... but I really can't remember when was the last time you taught us anything..." He looked at his sensei, who was still deep in his orange book and didn't even start to unpack „The only thing I could add to your name right now is probably 'lazy' and 'pervert'." Kakashi sweat-dropped hearing Sakura's giggles and seeing Naruto and Sasuke's smirks.

"Oh?" asked the Jounin in a mockingly hurt tone, nose still in his book."And here I thought that I was teaching you too much for the last month. What about all those magnificent teamwork exe..."

"Don't you dare to speak about those damn exercises as teaching," snapped Sasuke."They're meaningless, you're only doing them so you can be a lazy ass."

Kakashi looked at his three students. Even Naruto couldn't hide his emotions, glaring at him. With a sigh the Jounin stood up and hid his book in his pouch.

"They're not meaningless, Sasuke. As a Konoha shinobi teamwork is your greatest asset. You have to develop it, the sooner the better. But..." he looked at his three students that were looking at him suspiciously,"... I think it's time to teach you something else"

The Genins' eyes widened, the suspicion in them growing even bigger. Kakashi chuckled. _'They probably can't believe it'_. And then...

"Who are you and what have you done with Kakashi?"

"What are you talking about, Naruto?" asked the confused Jounin.

"You're only an hour late, you hide your book to talk with us and you even said that you want to teach us something other than teamwork," explained the redhead."You just can't be Kakashi."

The one-eyed Jounin sweat-dropped."Okay, jokes aside," he started."Now come, knowing some of you, you will continue training late into the night, and I want to get some sleep." He wasn't worried about Sakura, but he already saw Sasuke training after midnight in the Uchiha compound, and judging from those few times when Naruto was almost asleep standing up, he also wasn't going to bed at 8 p.m.

"So what are you going to teach us, Sensei?" asked Sakura, while following him away from their camp.

Deciding that they were far enough Kakashi stopped and turned around, giving them his eye-smile."Tree climbing." His students' faces, that until now were showing various levels of anticipation, fell.

"You're kidding, right?" asked Sasuke.

"A little," admitted the Jounin."The real name for this exercise is 'tree walking'. You're going to climb up the trees using only your legs."

While Sakura started mumbling something around 'It's impossible', Naruto sighed. He already knew this exercise. Two years ago he saw a Genin team that was trying to run up a tree. He started to practice this and now he was able to make nine steps if he started at a run.

But then Kakashi continued his explanations.

"It's a chakra control exercise," he said looking at Sakura, not noticing frown that appeared on Naruto's face."You're focusing chakra on your feet, thanks to it they'll stick to the side of the tree, wall or even a ceiling. It'll help in your control, but it's also useful in fights and..."

"Fuck..."

"Naruto? Is something wrong?" They all looked at the muttering redhead.

Young Uzumaki lowered his hand that he had over his face and looked back."Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I just learned that I wasted the last two years."

"What are you talking about?"

Deciding that there's no point in hiding it Naruto sighed and spoke."Two years ago I saw a few Genins practicing this exercise you're talking about..."

"So you knew it?" interrupted Sasuke, a bit frustrated that once again the 'dead last' was ahead of him.

"Kind of," answered the redhead."The thing is, I didn't knew that they were using chakra. I spend the last two years trying to do it without chakra, so I wasted this whole time for something completely useless."

Sasuke's frustration disappeared, replaced by something that he couldn't quite understand. Sakura on the other hand was once again realising how far behind her two teammates she was. From the beginning she was aware that Sasuke was better, after all he was her 'Sasuke-kun' ,he was better than anyone. But after a few weeks she started noticing that Naruto was ahead of her as well. And now she knew why. During the academy she didn't even think about training outside of school.

"Well," started Kakashi, unaware of his other students' thoughts,"you're not entirely right." Naruto looked at him questioningly."I admit that it's mostly useless, but, considering your stealth skill, you will surely receive a few infiltration missions. If they involved chakra sensors you'd be at an advantage. How high can you run?"

"Nine steps."

Kakashi didn't show any reaction to the information that his Genin student could run twenty feet up the wall without chakra. "Well, unfortunately, apart from that, I really can't find any other uses for this." He then turned his attention to his other students too. "Okay, let's start." With those words he went over to one of the trees and walked up its side, following his hair's example in not caring about gravity."What you have to do is focus your chakra on your feet. The point is to find and maintain the proper amount. Too little and your feet won't stick to the surface. Too much and you'll be pushed away. Now go on, try." They walked closer to the trees"Oh, I almost forgot. It'd be better for you to try starting with a run at the beginning"

They stopped for a second and then, surprisingly, Sakura went first. She reached the tree and started running up. She was making good progress until her seventh step, when suddenly she slipped. She pushed herself away from the tree with her other leg and landed a few feet away.

"Exactly what I said." Kakashi was now looking at them hanging up site down on one of the branches."You used too little chakra. Nevertheless, you made a very good effort. Normally a first attempt ends in under five steps." Sakura beamed with happiness.

Sasuke rushed forward, not wanting to be outdone by his weakest teammate. He ran four steps before something happened. They heard a quiet crack as the bark under his foot crumbled a bit. He tried to take another step but he slipped, which forced him to push away and land with a backflip.

"Well, you used too much, that's where that crack came from," commented Kakashi."Then you reduced it too much, which caused your slip."

He then looked at his last student. Seeing this Naruto sighed and followed his teammates' example. He managed only three steps, with cracks appearing already on second. His third step pushed him away from the tree, forcing him to land awkwardly. Hearing further cracks he looked up... and jumped away, avoiding a falling tree.

Kakashi sweat-dropped. Naruto saw his resigned, though not so surprised, look. Until suddenly the 'surprise' in his eyes... eye deepened. Uzumaki looked in the same direction as his teacher, but he didn't see anything interesting... apart from the sliced and cut remains of a tree. He looked back at his teacher to see him deep in thought.

"Kakashi?" The Jounin's look concentrated on him, for a second still sharp, before it returned to its normal, lazy, look.

"Sorry, I just couldn't believe how poor your chakra control is."

Sasuke smirked. Naruto glared at both of them.

"This is actually quite easy!" All three males looked up to see the only female in their team walking on the underside of the branch, more or less at the same height as Kakashi. That was the moment when she let out a silent scream and fell off. She made a half flip and landed on the ground, a bit heavily.

"Well, well, looks like she almost had it" said Kakashi, following her example and landing on the ground, only with a bit more grace. "She's much better than you two." Both boys scowled a bit, while Sakura beamed with pride."Well, it's probably due to her low chakra reserves..." mumbled Kakashi, like in an afterthought. Sakura's face fell and the Jounin chuckled inwardly. _'She has great control, even considering her low reserves... but she doesn't have to know that...'_

"Okay guys, you have an hour. After that it'd be better if you go rest. We still have a long way to go."

* * *

Kakashi expected that they would have it down by the end of the week.

Sakura managed to do it by the end of the first day. Kakashi ordered her to jump from one tree to another staying under the branches. It wasn't actually a standard exercise, but with how good she was at chakra control Kakashi decided to help her refine it, making it her best asset.

Sasuke had it down after two days. It was a great time, but he wasn't pleased because he had been greatly outmatched by his 'weakest' teammate. Wanting to catch up with her he moved to the same exercise as Sakura. He was doing quite well... even if he had to end sooner on the third day, because he had blown off every branch around... and by 'sooner' Kakashi meant after two hours, unlike normal days, when he was training for at least five, late into the night.

As for Naruto, Kakashi had no idea, because after their first day redhead started to disappear for the nights, appearing in the morning, with bruises and dirt all over himself. He wasn't answering any question about his progress. Kakashi tried to follow him, but Naruto lost him quickly. That was everything about a trust to his sensei.

It was the morning of the sixth day. At their current pace the one-eyed Jounin expected to reach their destination in the evening. He, or any other Jounin, would be able to cover such distance in about three days without much stress, but for a group of fresh Genins six days was quite a good time, even if from two days Sakura was going to sleep without unpacking.

But today it wasn't she that was delaying. For some reason Naruto was mostly using his hands to move between trees. Kakashi didn't want to hurry him considering that they were a day ahead of schedule, but still...

"Naruto?" he asked, getting his, and everyone's else, attention."Is something wrong?" His other students looked at the redhead. Sakura already noticed the slowed pace they were going at today, but she was actually grateful for it. She didn't want to complain, but she was sore and exhausted. Sasuke didn't notice. The day before he had decided to train during travel, so now he was mostly concentrating on sticking to the branches and sides of the tree. But now that Kakashi pointed it out...

"I just overdid it a little," said Naruto, pointing at his legs in between jumps.

"You still can't do it?" asked Sasuke with a smug grin, landing on the underside of the branch before jumping further.

Seeing his display Naruto sighed. After another push he turned upside down and, without the slightest sway, jumped under another. He moved that way for the next three branches before going back to his hands with a raised corner of the lip, that appeared after seeing that the surprised Sasuke had lost his concentration and had to climb back after blowing off a branch.

"I had it down two days ago," informed Naruto,"I was just trying something else last night."

"And what was that 'something else'?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto was about to retort that it wasn't his business, but decided that it didn't matter since it didn't work anyway."After destroying that tree when you showed us this exercise I thought that maybe I could make an attack out of it. But controlling it was a pain in the ass." A slightly ashamed look appeared on his face."Yesterday I decided to find out if it was even worth it. So I used as much chakra as I could."

"And?" asked Sasuke when Naruto didn't continue.

"Well... the tree was blown into another," admitted Naruto."As well as my boots and a lot of flesh from my feet."

Sakura took a deep breath while Sasuke looked like he was supressing a wince.

"If only you'd told me this sooner I could have told you that it wasn't the best idea," said Kakashi."Or rather that it wasn't the best way. An idea in itself is actually great, using your weakness as an advantage, but to do the thing you wanted to do you need near perfect chakra control to channel it through your skin without ripping it. I know only one person who could use it repeatedly." Kakashi looked at his student."You could have asked me. I could have saved you a lot of pain." Naruto looked away.

They continued in silence. The sun reached half of its way through the sky and started the second part of its journey. Clouds started to gather, ready to hide its path. Their surroundings changed during the day. Typically for the Land of Fire, forest gave way to dwarf bushes and then naked rocks.

It was about an hour before the sunset when they reached their destination, a small mining village named Okihawa. One main road, twenty or thirty simple stone houses, mostly one-levels, with only two houses with a second floor – an inn, and what looked like the Mayor's house.

When they reached the village entrance those few people that were wandering around quickly disappeared. They walked down the road to the Mayor's house, looking around at the seemingly empty windows.

"Why are they hiding?" asked Sakura quietly.

"For a few weeks they've been attacked by bandits," said Naruto."What did you expect? Flowers and fanfares?"

They reached the Mayor's house. Kakashi knocked on the door. It opened almost instantly, but only wide enough to talk.

"Y-yes?" asked an obviously scared voice.

"Good evening. We're a team from Konoha requested for a C-rank mission," stated Kakashi politely with an eye-smile.

The door opened wider, if a bit hesitantly. They now saw a plump, tall man with black, greying hair in plain brown clothes made of some thick material. Behind him stood a woman, similar in posture and age, with blond hair and in a blue dress made of the same fabric. They also saw two more figures deeper in the hall, but they were hidden in the shadow. Naruto also sensed two more figures upstairs, one much smaller, probably newborn or slightly older.

"You are?" asked the Mayor, looking at them with doubt."I'm not sure if those kids can handle th..." he trailed off when his eyes landed on Naruto. The other boy was quite normal, just a bit colder than his grandchild, and the little girl looked too fragile to even raise a pickaxe, but something in this redhead was very intimidating. And that knife that appeared in his hand out of the blue and was now spinning between his fingers didn't help.

"They will," Kakashi assured him."They're one of the best teams our village has, and in case of any trouble I'm here to help. I assure you that I'm more than enough to handle this."

The Mayor didn't seem too convinced, but decided to not argue."Well then, please come inside. You probably have some questions. Can you bring some tea, please?" he said to the blonde woman before leading them to one of the rooms."Please, sit down."

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, Jounin of Konoha," started Kakashi as they all seated themselves on various chairs."Those are my Genin students: Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura."

"My name is Umi Hikate," the Mayor introduced himself and, seeing the woman coming back with tea and some cookies, pointed at her."And this is my wife, Akiko."

Kakashi nodded politely to her before turning back to Hikate, pulling a scroll out of his pouch."According to this scroll you requested our help with a group of bandits that was attacking your village." The Mayor nodded."Can you tell us anything more about them?

"Unfortunately, not much," stated Hikate."They attacked us for the first time almost two months ago. They..."

"You waited two months before requesting help?" interrupted Sasuke.

"We sent our request a week after the first attack..."

"Then why was nobody sent before?" asked Sasuke, this time turning to his sensei.

"They're civilians, Sasuke" said Kakashi patiently."You can travel to Konoha in a week. For them it takes a bit more time. Now, sorry for the interruption. They won't do this again." He glared at his students."Please, continue."

Hikate seemed interested in this little display, but continued nonetheless."As I said, they attacked us almost two months ago. They beat a few people, knocked one out, destroyed a few windows and said that if we don't want to see how the village looks in flames then we would pay them. We couldn't do anything, so we obeyed." The Mayor looked down, shame visible on his face. His wife put a hand on his shoulder. After a few seconds he continued."Since then, they've been coming back once or twice a week. We also learned that they attacked few nearby villages."

"Are they taking only money?" asked Kakashi.

"No, they're also taking food." Jounin nodded. That could mean that they were alone here. If they had only taken money that would mean that they had someone that provided supplies to them... or that they were buying food elsewhere, but that was rather unlikely.

"Do you know where their camp is?"

"No, no one was brave enough to follow them, but they always come from the south-west."

"When was the last attack?"

"Two days ago."

"Has it rained since then?" asked Naruto. Kakashi wanted to scold him, but he was about to ask the same question, so he let it slip.

"Surprisingly, no. We're living quite close to the Rain Country, so it rains almost every day, but last time was the morning of the attack."

"Are they traveling on foot?" continued Kakashi.

"No, on horses."

"Ok then, I think that will be all for now," said Kakashi, standing up. The Mayor and Genins followed him.

"I'm sure you're tired. Unfortunately I don't have a place here, but I know that there are a few vacant rooms in the inn," Hikate informed them with an apologetic smile.

"That's okay Hikate-san."

They were about to leave when Mayor's quiet voice stopped them."Do you... do you think you can stop them?"

Kakashi turned around."Don't worry." Somehow, despite the mask, Hikate was sure that the Jounin was smiling reassuringly."Good night." And with those words the Konoha shinobi were gone.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Sasuke as they all walked outside. The Sun had already gone down and darkness took the world in its reign.

"For now, we're going to the inn to rest," said Kakashi, and after seeing surprised looks on his students' faces he continued."We came here in six days. You're tired. It's my fault, I shouldn't push you so much. That's why," he raised his voice a bit seeing that they were going to interrupt him,"we're going to rest for now. And that's why you are not going to train tonight, right?" he looked at Naruto and Sasuke. The Uchiha nodded his head reluctantly, but Naruto didn't show any sign of agreeing."OK, let's go."

* * *

It was the morning of the next day, and Team 7 was, surprisingly... waiting.

The previous day, before they all went to their respective rooms, Kakashi ordered them to meet him at 7 a.m. at the entrance of the village with their shinobi gear. So here they were, armed with their weapons, medic kits, a bit of food and cloaks, because the rain was about to fall, waiting calmly, quietly and patiently for the last member of their team...

Ok, I lied. They weren't calm, quiet nor patient.

"WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!"

"Well, he's late only few minutes..."

"THAT DOESN'T MATTER! HE SHOULD BE HERE! WE ARE ON A MISSION, SHANNARO!"

"Maybe he overslept?" '...shannaro?...'

"Hn. I checked his room before. It looked like he hadn't even been there."

"So it seems that he didn't listen when I said 'no training'," mused Kakashi.

Yup. It was Naruto who was missing. Kakashi was here, have been on time... even if only thanks to Sasuke, who dragged him out of the bed, not wanting any delays. The Uchiha didn't take into account his redheaded teammate though.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Sakura - quietly, thank Kami.

"While I'm tempted to leave him here," started Kakashi,"we will probably need his help, so we have to wait."

Sakura growled and started murmuring."Damn that Baka! And here I thought that I wouldn't be forced to wait! When he shows up I'm going to beat him into the next week, shannaro! He'll regret..."

Sasuke and Kakashi sweat-dropped, before Uchiha asked,"What are we going to do after we find this idiot?"

"Well, first we have to find their camp. Then we'll think of the best plan to attack them?"

"Plan?"

"We can't just rush head on at them, can we?"

"Why not?" When Sasuke saw the Jounin's surprised look he continued."They're just normal bandits. I'm sure I can take them, Naruto too, even Sakura wouldn't have a problem. And with you they..."

"I would prefer not to take part in this," interrupted Kakashi.

"What?" asked Sakura, stopping her murmuring."But you're the team leader..."

"I'm your sensei as well. And while Sasuke is right that you three can take those bandits head on and slip out of it with only few scratches, this is a great opportunity to train your tactical sense for future, more dangerous assignments. That's why I want you to think of a plan that would give the most benefits with the least risk" Kakashi chuckled when he saw their confused and, in Sakura's case, a bit scared faces "Don't worry, I won't leave you alone."

"Sorry, I'm kind of late." They turned around to see Naruto emerging from the nearest home's shadow.

Kakashi wasn't sure what it was. Maybe something in Naruto's blue eyes, or the way they twitched when the redhead took his hood off. Maybe it was his instinct, honed during many years of war. Whatever it was, it caused him to grab the nearest person and substitute them with a rock behind one of the homes.

"**BAKA! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, SHANNARO! I'M GOING...**"

"What has gotten into her?" asked Naruto, who also replaced himself with a rock when he saw that she was taking a deep breath."Is it her time of the month or something?"

Sasuke shrugged, regaining his composure after being saved by his Sensei from a very painful death. He then took a closer look at the Uzumaki."Whole night of training, huh?" he asked when he saw dirt on the redhead's clothes and dark bags under tired looking blue eyes.

Naruto shook his head "No, I was finding and infiltrating the bandits' camp."

While Sasuke looked at him in disbelief Kakashi said "Hmmm... and I assume that you told me about this and I just forgot, right? Or maybe you left a note that said where you went and we just missed it?"

"No, I made a trail of breadcrumbs so you could follow me if you wanted."

Kakashi sighed heavily and looked at Naruto."You don't have to defend yourself. I'm not mad that you made this call. Actually it's what I want from all of you. To be creative, clever, anticipate. But you have to tell us before you do something like that." Naruto sighed and looked away."Okay, let's leave it for now. Tell us what you've learned."

Naruto, drawn from his thoughts, was silent for a few seconds, collecting his mind before opening his mouth, but Sasuke was first."What about Sakura?"

They all looked in her direction, still behind the house. Her screams were still audible, it seemed like she didn't even notice their disappearance. They sweat-dropped."Maybe when she calms down, okay?" asked Kakashi, to which both boys nodded fast."Naruto?"

"I found their camp in the valley to the west. They don't have shinobi training, so they had to go around the hardest parts, that's why they were coming from the south-west. For us it's about a two hour trip. Their camp has definitely been there for a long time: wooden walls, deep trenches, posts around, two entries. From the degree of usage I would say that it was made a few months ago. I didn't have any problems in infiltrating it. There wasn't anything too fancy. Few tents, few wooden buildings, fireplaces. I would say... a camp during transformation into a regular base. I counted around eighty, ninety men. I was wandering around for a few hours. It was night, so I didn't heard too much, but it was enough to know that we have two problems. First, they're going to one of the villages, Tabinora, today. It's supposed to be a large group, thirty thugs. I don't think that they need that much only to get a bit of money." Kakashi nodded. If the villagers were scared then even five bandits would be enough."Second, they have hostages. I heard something about 'punishment for heroism', so I think that somebody tried to fight."

Kakashi's eye narrowed."You saw them?" Naruto nodded "How many? And where?"

"About twenty, plus minus a few, women and few children. They were kept in one of the buildings, bars in the windows, guards in the entry. I also saw a few... taken away" Naruto ended after a glance at Sasuke. Kakashi understood that he was hiding more brute facts. Sasuke also saw it, but he wasn't sure what redhead was hiding. He was about to ask, but Kakashi was faster.

"OK, we'll think about this later. For now, we need to take care of their little trip to this... Tabinora. Let's calm Sakura down and move out." Kakashi took a few steps in the, still screaming, Sakura's direction, but when he noticed that the boys weren't following he turned around. Naruto and Sasuke were looking at him with fear, shock and a bit of admiration on faces.

"You want to calm HER?" asked Uchiha.

"You're the bravest man I ever saw, Sensei," muttered Uzumaki.

* * *

/Okay, few words of explanations.

First, why not Wave. Well, it's all about time. In canon Team 7 had a bit... a lot of trouble with teamwork, mostly because Naruto was still trying to show that he's better than Sasuke. In my story it's exactly the opposite, which means that there isn't any show offing. Though that doesn't mean that there is no competition, don't misunderstood.

Second, 'tree walking'. As higher, it's sooner than in canon, the same reasons. And I know that some parts are a little different than in the main story, but I tried to make it a bit more realistic. After all, no matter how good you're at something and how big talent you have, I don't think that it's possible to just come and do the completely new exercise without any problems (Sakura).

Oh, and I left a pointer in this chapter for Naruto's sensory ability. I admit, it's very subtle. I had to write it like that, cause when I wrote it first time it seemed to obvious to me. Maybe because I already know what it is, I don't know. Anyway, one request. If you find it, don't put it in a review. If you really want me to confirm it, just write PM please. No point in spoiling the others fun

Answers for reviews:

**twilightserius: **Well, Naruto IS a Jinchuuriki of the beast that went rampage in the middle of populated village, killing many people. Even without that they'd be at least afraid of him, this only added fuel to their hate. So it's suck. I always thought that in canon it should be more... damn, I can't find the word, developed? Pointed? Anyway, as for second part, no. I always liked seals so I'm going to add them into Naruto's war pack, but he's learning them on his own.

**RoyaN G J: **Thanks a lot, and I had it covered.

**plums: **It's a shame, but as I already wrote last time, I'm writing this story for myself. I appreciate your feedback and advises, but if I won't like something I'm not going to put it in just to please someone. Also I wrote before that I'm going to draw away from canon progressively. I know that right it's almost exactly like in main story, but want to put some backgrounds to the decisions that my characters make. I'm not going to just make Naruto wake up one day and decide that he wants to run, become Hokage or paint his ass in orange.

Well, that's all for now. I will try to post the next chapter as fast as I can. I almost completed it, so I don't think that it would take more than two weeks, maybe even less./


	6. 06 - First Kills

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and his characters. Rest of them are mine and you better stay away from them :D**

* * *

Terrain around Okihawa, Tabinora and bandit's camp was very tough, full of valleys and crags. Riding on horses, bandits didn't had much choice in choosing the ways. They had to go by normal, used by merchants and villagers roads, or risk straying in a rock labyrinth. And cause they're very cautions, and even after a month of peaceful robbery they still expected some kind of resistance, they decided to take harder, but safer way through the maze...

Yeaaa... Sureee...

Group of twenty-eight bandits was galloping through the main road between Tabinora and Kurohoto without a care in the world. And why should they? They're doing what they wanted for the last month, and the only resistance that they saw was one idiot, who thought that his wife is only for himself. They quickly showed him that he was wrong, on his very eyes, and then killed him. As well as the rest of the villagers. The village itself was burned, but they couldn't leave those few women that survived... somehow. They had to 'help' them after all.

Now they're riding to the largest village around, Tabinora. Last group that went there didn't return, so Boss regarded them as killed, probably by villagers. They could as well just lost in the wastelands, but who cared?

Sailan was one of the last in the column. In normal squad that would mean that he has to act as a rear guard, but they didn't have to. In exchange, he's busy thinking about certain bluenette from Tabinora. He saw her during their first raid there, but Boss ordered them to leave her be. He didn't want any angry villagers that could thought about revenge or rescuing kidnapped maidens. When they weren't too bad, villagers weren't attacking, cause they still had something to lose. But now, after the order to burn it do the ground, there wasn't any obstacle to 'rescue' poor bluenette and take her to the camp for a bit of fun.

Sailan grinned evilly. Bluenette had two daughters. They're a bit too young, but their faces would be quiet a show if he force them to watch...

Sudden explosion and screams drawed him out of his thoughts. He looked up, only for his eyes to widen in surprise. And fear.

Huge blast to the right ripped chunks of earth in the middle of the crag, burying at least ten men and horses. Second after another set of screams raised into the air, those ones from behind the debris. Few of the bandits rushed their horses, deciding to go around the rocks, but before they could even reach the first ones two figures appeared on the new 'hill'.

One was a dark haired boy in blue and white, second was pink haired girl in red. Before Sailan saw anything else they jumped down, attacking the most front-end men with inhuman speed, throwing them unconscious to the ground. In the same time few knifes appeared in surrounding him bandits' backs, forcing them down. When he looked behind he saw another figure, or rather black and red blur, that was attacking his companions.

Next thing he saw was a knife that was flying to his head.

And then he stopped to see anything.

* * *

Kakashi was looking at Naruto. And was worried. Again.

He's looking at his students during the ambush, ready to intervene at any sign of danger. But they made it perfectly, causing the rock to fall on the group and dividing them. Then they attacked, not giving bandits any time to react, knocking all of them off.

Almost all. And that was what was worrying him.

Naruto killed few of them. Kakashi never strictly ordered him them to catch them alive, so it wasn't anything wrong. In his shoes Kakashi would probably kill even more. At first he's just resigned. It only meant that they're going to have 'first kill' talk.

But Naruto wasn't terrified. He wasn't looking blankly in the space, on bodies or kunai. He wasn't disgusted of the blood on his hand. He wasn't acting like any other fresh Genin that just killed for the first time. Sakura seemed more shocked than Naruto when he took out his canteen and started washing his hands.

There could be two explanations. Or Naruto didn't care, killing someone wasn't for him anything more than an action, a move. Or it wasn't his first kill. Kakashi really wasn't sure what was worse. Potential mass murderer or child with blood on hands?

He looked at his other students. Sakura seemed shocked and terrified. He wasn't surprised. Knowing her she probably didn't even thought that somebody could die on this mission. Sasuke's face was totally emotionless, but his eyes, wandering from bodies to Naruto, betrayed him.

Ok, thinking later, now they had a job...

"Ok guys, that was great job." He started, getting their attention. "Now let's tie those boys and the we'll wait for our backup. Sasuke, Sakura, you two will be on guard from south. Me and Naruto will be on the north. Understood?"

"Hai!" they said in unison and get to work.

Before that day, after few more questions to Mayor Hikate, they went to find a proper place for a trap. Upon arriving to the place they're now Kakashi ordered his students to prepare their little welcome party, while he went to Tabinora to find out what happened there.

As they suspected, few braver villagers decided that they don't want to live under bandits' heel anymore. They preapared a trap and captured the next group. It wasn't really that hard. They only had to kill one of the five thugs that came to show them that those twenty enraged villagers weren't kidding.

Before Kakashi finished telling them about upcoming group and their trap, most of the villagers were already packing. Rest of them wanted to come and help. Jounin managed to calm both of the groups, telling them that his group will stop them, and that they're too far away for them to come in time. Nevertheless, he agreed when they proposed to take care of the prisoners.

That's why, after taking care of the living and, in Kakashi's case, dead bandits, they're waiting for their backup. On one side Sakura and Sasuke, both with images of bodies and Naruto's unchanged face in their minds. On the other Naruto, quiet as always, and Kakashi, who was discreetly observing his student.

"You want something?" Well, looks like he wasn't so discreet.

"Naruto..." started Kakashi, and stopped, not knowing how to continue. After a few seconds he decided to just ask bluntly. "...was this your first kill?"

"No." responded quickly Naruto. So quickly, that Kakashi was sure that he's expecting this question.

"Then when was..."

"I understand that you're interested." Interrupted Redhead. "But you should also understand that it isn't something I want to talk about."

Kakashi nodded and turned around to go to the other side of the road, but decided to speak one last time.

"Just remember that I'm here if you want to talk."

There was no response.

* * *

"So, do you have any plan?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto didn't responded, even if he had few. He looked at his teammates. Sakura was embarrassed. She probably didn't had anything. When she noticed that he's looking at her she quickly looked away, but he still caught flash of fear.

"Naruto said that they're two entries." Started Sasuke. "So if we block them, we three on one side, and you, Kakashi, on the other, we could take a lot of them when they rush at us. Then two of us will go inside to clean the rest, while the other two will stop at the gates to make sure that nobody will run away."

Kakashi was silent for a few seconds, continuing their running towards the bandits camp, before speaking. "Not bad, but there are few downsides. You two found them?" He looked at his other students.

"What if there is another entry?" asked hesitantly Sakura.

Naruto opened his mouth to reply that he'd notice it, but he realised that it's against his own rule: 'Always assume that you missed something'. In exchange he decided to point another thing. "And what about the hostages?"

Sasuke and Sakura looked at him puzzled. "What about them? We'll free them after taking care of the bandits."

Naruto sighed and looked over his shoulder at Kakashi. Jounin nodded. Redhead sighed again and turned back to his teammates.

"Let's say we're lucky." started Naruto. "We three will block one gate, Kakashi the other one. They'll see us and attack. We'll take out around twenty before they notice that we're too good for them and run. Kakashi will take care of another twenty. We took down another thirty earlier, so that leaves around twenty thugs left. After they realize that they don't stand a chance one of them can get a brilliant idea to use hostages against us. You want to find out how good you're in rescuing the living shields?"

During his little rant Naruto was observing both his teammates. Sakura seemed stunned. He wasn't expecting anything from her. She's smart, but right now, after their previous encounter, she was too shocked. Sasuke reacted as always. At first surprise, then anger, probably that Naruto dared to correct him, and then resignation when he realised that Redhead was right and that he should figure this out too.

"So what are we going to do?" He asked. "Rescue hostages before we start the attack?"

"We can't. I'm able to sneak through the camp, you probably too, but they're civilians."

"Then what? Attack right after they start to run?"

"That would work if we're still assuming that we're lucky. But think what could go wrong. Their retreat can be false. There could be someone who will think about hostages sooner. I could've missed some bandits so there could be more of them. They could..."

"Okay, okay, I get it." interrupted Sasuke. "So, do you have a plan?"

Naruto suppressed a grin. "Yes. Yours. We just have to take hostages out first."

* * *

Naruto emerged from the shadow of the valley wall, hood on his red hair and black scarf covering downside of his face. Using every rock and pit he could find he approached the palisade and run up its side without chakra. Catching the sharpened top of the trunk he lifted himself only enough to take a peak over it. Not noticing anybody around he jumped down the other side and hide in the shadow of a nearby shed.

Naruto concentrated on his 'sixth sense' to make sure that there wasn't anybody nearby. He then looked at the prison building. Yesterday, during his first trip, he remembered layout of the camp, so he didn't had any problems with finding it now. Redhead sighed inwardly. Prison was on the other side if the camp, so he had to go all the way around the central square. He may be able to hide from ANBU, but even this wasn't enough to sneak through the middle of the only lighted part of the camp.

Sighing with resignation again Naruto started his journey. The camp was made of a well lighted central square and outer rim occupied by living buildings, few storages, prison building and a building that Naruto was assuming were headquarters. Resident part occupied around three-fourth of the outer rim and was made of tents, shaky sheds and few well, but not completely built houses. They were or not sure how long they'll be here, or decided that if nobody ordered them to they don't have to bother.

Reaching his target took him over half an hour. Yesterday he's able to go around whole camp in that time, but yesterday he's here in the middle of a night, and now it's only late evening. Sun was already hidden though. Naruto also hoped for a bit of rain, but damn clouds stopped releasing their luggage few hours ago.

Hiding behind some boxes near the storage Naruto eyed the prison. Like before, two bandits were guarding the entrance. Bars in the windows weren't much of a problem, but it would take too long. He looked for some other entry. He could always take out those guards, but their absence could attract someone attention.

He spotted loose board just under the top of the roof. Under it beam protruded out of the wall. After making sure that nobody is nearby (maybe it wasn't chakra sensing, but his sensory ability was damn usefull, whatever it was) he emerged from his cover, run up the prison wall, caught the beam and lifted himself up. Without the chakra. Partially out of habit, and partially to restrict his chakra usage. He didn't spotted any shinobi, but chakra sensing was an inborn talent. Ninja training was only sharpening it.

Board was loose. There was a few holes in it, but not even one nail. Moving it an inch aside Naruto looked inside. As before, two torches on the both sides of a door lighted eight wooden cells. In each one of them were around three curled figures. The torches had pluses and minuses. Somebody from outside could see him through the window, but on the other side the hostages would be less scared by his sudden appearance. Surprised shouts could attract some attention.

Naruto crawled inside and put the board in its place. He moved to the middle of the beam and was about to whisper something when he sensed someone approaching the building.

'_Damnit! Couldn't he wait few minutes?' _Thought angrily Naruto. 'Someone' walked to the door and paused for a few seconds, probably talking with the guards, before laughing loudly and entering. Naruto caught only a glimpse of a scar on his left check before he moved past the torches, hiding his face. He had brown hair and clothes, and katana at his waist.

"Now, which one today?" His voice was deep, it sounded kind of like barking of a dog. "Any volunteers to entertain me tonight?" He started walking slowly between the cages.

All captives curled by the wall, as far from him as they could.

"No? Well, it seems like I have to choose one." He said, passing first cells and looking in the second on the left. "Hey, beauty, remember last time? Maybe you want to repeat that?"

Blonde woman cried silently and curled closer to the wall.

"No? Oh well..." Bandit continued his walk, and then stopped looking inside the third cell on the left. "Hey, little one, remember me?"

There were three women and a little, maybe ten years old girl inside the cell. When he spoke to her the girl shivered and curled to woman on the left, who hugged her quickly.

"Looks like you remember..." Mussed bandit. Naruto slowly moved, careful to not make any sound, above him. "Your mother was good, fighting for quiet long... but you saw this, didn't you? Unfortunetly, she died. Maybe I made her feel too good?" He took out a key "Are you curious what it feels like? I can show you..."

"No, please, she's just a child." Pleaded the woman that was hugging her.

"So maybe you want to take her place?" Asked mockingly bandit. She stayed silent. "I thought so. But maybe you don't have to? I don't hear any protests from her..."

"She ca..."

"Well, if she won't SAY anything..." He put a special emphasis on 'say'."...then I assume that she don't have anything against it." He opened the cell. "Now, come here, little one. We're go..."

He didn't end. Dark blur fall on him, pinning him to the ground with a quiet thud. All hostages looked surprised at Naruto who was crouching on the bandits back, still holding a kunai embed inside his skull. For a few seconds everyone was quiet, before the woman that was hugging the girl opened her mouth...

"Silence." Whispered harshly Naruto. He walked to the door, leaving the kunai in the bandits skull and summoning another. He stood for a few second, listening the guards, before turning around and motioning to the captives to come. After a slight hesitation one of them listened. "Take a key from him." Whispered Naruto. "Open rest of the cells and gather all of them here." The woman nodded and get to work.

For a minute or two Naruto was listening, wincing slightly when he heard rustles. But he couldn't do anything about it. At least they weren't asking questions. When all of them gathered he started.

"Ok, listen up. Listen to me!" He whispered harshly seeing few blank looks. When he made sure that they're listening he continued. "My friends are going to attack this camp. We won't be able to take you out before it, so we decided to move you somewhere to make sure that they wouldn't use you. Now, I'm going to take out those guards and then, one by one, on my mark, you're going to run to the storage in the front. Once there, we'll wait until everything is over. Any questions?" Naruto waited few seconds before continuing. "Okay, stay here, and whatever happens, be quiet, okay?"

Few of them nodded. Naruto turned around, took a deep breath and opened the door. The guard on the left looked at him, opening his mouth, probably to ask what took him so long. Naruto didn't let him. Kunai ring hit him in the temple. His eyes rolled to look how pretty the back of his skull was as he lost consciousness. The other one didn't even had time to look before kunai ring found his head. Naruto sealed his weapons back and caught both of them before they hit the ground. He dragged them inside and put them together in the nearest cell. He looked at the woman with the key.

"Lock them. And wait here." He added looking at them all.

Naruto rushed outside, closing the door. He looked around, making sure that his sixth sense wasn't fooling him. He ran quietly to the storage, pushed the door...

...and cursed.

'_Fuck! Why the hell they locked it? And why didn't I check it before?'_ His eyes glided over the door. It didn't had a keyhole, so he couldn't just pick the lock. Destroying the door was also out of question. Nobody could find them once the attack begin, and a hole in the wall would probably attract some attention. _'Well, that means the other way.' _he thought.

He sneaked around. And found the other way.

Downside was that it was from the site of the centre of the camp, well lighted by the fire. Going that way was a great risk. Only luck decides if somebody see him. And as for the door being open, he could only pray.

But he didn't had any other way.

Naruto took a deep breath and decided to be impudent. He emerged from the shadow without even trying to hide, walked casually to the door and opened it like he owned it. Once inside and with closed door he quickly scanned the inside before turning around and looking through the crack between the woods. After a minute he relaxed and walked to the closed door. He quickly took off blocking beam, opened it and rushed to the prison building.

Women inside seemed relieved when he walked inside. They probably assumed that his continuing absence meant that he's caught or leaved them. Naruto brushed those thoughts aside, concentrating on the task at hands.

"Listen, on my mark, one by one, you're going to run to the storage. Once inside find some place where you won't be too much on sight and be quiet. Whatever happen. Even if someone see you. Your scream will only alarm others, understood?"

When all of them nodded Naruto motioned to the first one. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his sensing. Once sure that nobody is around he looked in the direction of the centre square.

"Go." He whispered. The woman run to the storage, trying to be quiet. Naruto squirmed a bit hearing her footsteps, but it could be worse. When she reached the door he motioned to the next one. "Go."

This continued for a next minute or two. He ordered next (around fifteenth, he wasn't counting) woman to go when he sensed someone approaching. If he or she will continue on this course this person will walk right next to the prison, and probably notice the absence of the guards. It'd be better to be out of here before it.

He looked behind, at the three woman and the girl from before. "Go all together. GO!"

They listened, rushing outside. Naruto stayed in place. He could always can sneak out, and here he had surprise advantage if needed.

He watched as four prisoners run to the storage door, held by one of the previously send women. Little girl was falling back because of her small legs, but it still looked like she'd reach the door before the bandit come. At least until she tripped and fall to the ground.

"Hey! What are you doing, you little twerp?"Loud, male voice. The girl looked behind to see tall, blonde haired bandit with a club in hand. "How did you get out? I'm..."

That was another bandit that couldn't end his threat towards her. This one received a strong punch to the back of the skull that knocked him out. Naruto, who stood right behind now falling bandit quickly run to the girl, took her in his arms and dashed through the open door of the storage. Once inside he put the girl behind some boxes and looked at her, surprised that she didn't let out any sound. He met a huge, green eyes that were looking at him with fear, thought he saw a hint of trust... _'The same as Shiho...' _He quickly turned around to the rest of the prisoners.

"Everybody here? And okay?" He received few nods. "Okay, put that beam in its place and help me with those boxes to barricade the other door."

When everything was set up Naruto put his hands in a ram handseal and thought. _'Let's the party begin.'_

Somewhere in the distance they all heard loud explosion. All captives looked around worried, but Naruto stayed calm. He knew the plan. Explosive tags that he just set off had two purposes. First was to convince a bit of valley side that laying on the ground is more comfortable than hanging from the wall. So now those rocks were blocking east entrance to the camp. Second purpose was to give his teammates signal to attack.

Naruto watched through the crack at the sudden commotion that engulfed whole camp. Bandits were waking up, rushing out of their tents and sheds with weapons in hands. Most of them were running left and right without any purpose, but Naruto noticed few that run to the square and waited, looking at the 'Boss House' as if expecting someone to give them orders.

And indeed, after another few seconds giant of a man with very short black hair and huge axe on his back walked out yelling and waving. Naruto heard something like 'what the hell is going on?', 'calm them down', 'check the hostages', 'guard the gates' and few single words.

Bandits from the square (_'probably officers' _mussed Naruto in the back of his head) scattered quickly, rushing in various directions. Unfortunately, before the ones going to the west reached the outer rim, two figures jumped from between tents and rushed at them. Naruto watched as Sasuke and Sakura were quickly knocking them out. Those bandits may be good enough to reach officer's seat, but they're no match for a shinobi, even as weak as Sakura. She may lack in physical part, but she was using chakra. This was...

"Fuck!" muttered Naruto seeing the shocked look on pinkette's face. Moment before three bandits attacked her at once, while fourth sneaked to her back. She quickly beat those in front and then acted on instinct, attacking blindly behind her. The problem is that she had kunai in hand.

So now here... there she was, looking in the eyes of the man that she just stabbed in stomach. As life disappeared from his eyes her shock turned to fear. She let go of the weapon and shakily took few steps back. Her wide open eyes turned down, at her blood soaked hand. Her body started shaking uncontrollably.

Naruto cursed once again seeing few bandits approaching her immobile figure. He put his hands in a handseal _'That's far...'_

With a bit of smoke Naruto replaced Sakura in the middle of the square, quickly shaking the dizziness from using substitution and spurred into action, knocking attackers out. He quickly moved forward, catching up with Sasuke. Uchiha looked at him with suspicion in his eyes, before those black orbs widened slightly.

"Naruto?" _'Oh yea, they didn't saw me in this.' _Thought said redhead, moving his hood back a bit to show his red hair before putting it back. "Where is Sakura? And why are you here? You should..."

"Sakura is with hostages." Interrupted Naruto, blocking a katana with a kunai in his left hand and sinking his right fist in attacker's stomach.

"Why?" Asked Uchiha, grabbing a wrist of a bandit with his left hand, then securing his grip by catching his elbow with right. He spun around and threw him at the next approaching thug.

"I'll explain later." Yelled back Naruto, jumping and kicking next bandit in the head, and then, without falling, jumped to the next three, knocking them all out. "Let's handle them first."

Sasuke shrugged, giving a 'hn' as an only confirmation. By now, on the square there were only seven standing bandits. Rest of them were or laying on the ground, unconscious, dead, unable to stand, or deciding that the gates are definitely more important places to defend. They were even thinking about going on patrol around the camp. There could be more foes outside the walls, right?

Naruto and Sasuke moved forward, quickly and swiftly taking care of the remaining bandits. Last one actually fainted on his own after seeing his colleages being beaten into a shaking pulps, but Sasuke still helped him fall with a knee in the face.

"Impressive!" Boomed deep, rough voice. Both genins looked at the door to the 'Boss House' to see, as Naruto suspected, giant bandit leader. Now, being closer, he noticed numerous scars on his face and on his exposed muscular arms. He wore plain, brown pants and sleeveless, open green jacket, showing his huge muscled chest, crossed by a leather straps that was holding his axe in its place on his back. "Very impressive! I've never thought that I'd see somebody who can beat those idiots as easy as me! I'd propose you to join my group..." He looked at them, noticing Sasuke's glare and Naruto's bored look. "... but something is telling me that you won't accept" He reached for his axe.

Sasuke tensed, but Naruto only smirked, still with the same bored expression. "Impressive! Very impressive!" He said mockingly. "I've never thought that you're able to create so long sentence."

Giant leader growled loudly and attacked them, swinging his axe straight down at Naruto, who quickly jumped away, followed by Sasuke who avoided vertical swing. While the giant looked at them both, obviously surprised that they managed to evade, both Genins were eyeing him suspiciously, the same thought in their minds.

'_He's fast. Faster than anyone without chakra. Probably as fast as Sakura, if not faster. And definitely much stronger, if the size of that axe is any indication.' _Naruto looked over the Leader, looking for any sign that he is, or was, a ninja. But he didn't had hitai-ite, slashed or not, or even a pouch. Also, Naruto wasn't totally sure, but the way the giant stood and held this axe didn't seemed too professional to him. _'He don't look like someone who would hide his true abilities to avoid attention. Quiet opposite actually. So that means that he was threw out before becoming an actual shinobi, during academy or something... or he's using chakra on instinct, without any training.'_

Naruto looked at Sasuke, hoping that the Duckbutt have used his head for once. Uchiha noticed his glance and nodded, but Naruto still wasn't sure whether it's a sign of his readiness or understanding.

Both Genins rushed at the bandit from both sides, hoping to force him to open to one of them. Unfortunately, Giant showed that he don't care about their hopes and rushed at Naruto, once again attacking with single, two-handed downward slash. Naruto wanted to sidestep it, but something told him to jump away. And good, cause the sheer power of this attack raised the earth around the blade in at least two feat radius. Second later Sasuke reached him, ready to slash him at the leg, but had to roll away to avoid axe's handle in his 'pretty Uchiha' face. He threw few shurikens at their enemy's face, but Giant raised his bare hand and stopped them.

"That's why I don't like shurikens." Muttered Naruto when Sasuke landed at his side.

"Hn." Grunted Sasuke. "Kunais aren't much better."

Naruto shrugged and was about to say something, but huge blade that is slashing through your and your comrade's throat is an important obstacle. Bandit's leader rested his axe on his shoulder and stood over their bodies, laughing.

"You should have more brain than talking in the middle of the fight, brats!" He looked at their separated heads, both with wide eyes and shock painted on their faces. "Now let's find out if they're any more ra..."

He didn't end his thought. Unbelievable strong kick to his back broke his spine instantly. As his body was send flying he opened his mouth to scream, more in shock than in pain. Actually, he didn't registered it yet, but he couldn't feel anything below his neck. But it didn't matter anyway. He didn't yell. Kunai that was waiting at the end of his unwanted jump silenced him.

Naruto landed, wincing quietly when pain shoot from his left feet. _'I should've listen to Kakashi.'_ He thought looking at it. His heel was practically ripped off, blood driping on the earth while he was standing on his right leg. Naruto cursed silently and looked at Sasuke.

Uchiha heir was standing over giant's dead body. His eyes were hidden by his hair, lips clenched tightly, hands shaking a bit. Blood was dripping from the kunai in his hand.

'_Great. He too.' _Thought Naruto, walking to Sasuke, stomping only on the toes of his left foot. He put a hand on Uchiha's shoulder and asked. "Hey, you ok?"

Sasuke looked at him with a distance in his eyes. Naruto winced inwardly and was about to say something, but before he even thought what to say Uchiha noticed his leg. His eyes regained their normal look when he glared at redhead. "You're asking me if I'm okay with a leg like this?"

Naruto inwardly sighed with relief, while outside only shrugged. "Just a scratch." _'I have to keep him focused on something else.' _He thought andlooked around. "Listen, we took out most of them and Kakashi probably already welcomed the rest, but I think that we should go around and find out if there are anyone left ok?"

"I maybe should." Said Sasuke. "But you should go and take care of this leg before you lose too much blood."

Naruto looked at him with surprise and disbelief, but before Sasuke could ask about it he grinned. "Awww, is it worry that I heard in almighty Uchiha-sama's voice?"

Sasuke smirked. "Please, dobe, I just don't want to rescue your sorry ass when some big, bad bandit attack you."

"Come on, teme, we both know that even with this leg I can still take more bandit than you."

"Is that a challenge, Uzumaki?"

"Show me what you've got, Uchiha."

* * *

**Well, first, I'm sorry that it took so long (I'm starting to make a habit out of it:D) In truth the chapter was ready right after the previous one, but for some reason my beta is not answering. I don't know why, maybe something happened, or maybe he just don't want to be my beta anymore and just didn't say anything. Anyway, it seams like I don't have beta anymore... I managed to keep him for a whole one chapter... I'm that awesome...**

**Ehhhh... I need a new beta, so if there is someone who would like to take on this task then I would be very grateful.**

**Next, I can't remember any scene in the anime that was explaining that part of a chakra. Is it something that only few have and only they can become a shinobi or is anyone have it and the training just helps using it. Maybe I just missed it. Anyway, I rather think that the second option is more believable. But remember, that just like with chakra sensing and the substitution flaw, this one about sensing someone who appears through it, it's something that I came up with myself, trying to make it as believable as possible. So, if it was in canon and I just missed it than I'm sorry. In this part how everything works in the world and things like that, I'm trying to stick as close to the main story as possible.**

**Lastly, Naruto's past. I probably could tell you when was the time when he killed the first time and why did he did that, who was Shiho, why does only his storage seals don't produce smoke and all the other things... but as Naruto said, where would be the fun in that?**

**I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. I'll try to post the next one before Christmas.**

** Until next time than!**


	7. 07 - First Ties

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and its characters, but Rue is my. So hands off!**

* * *

Sakura was sitting on the rock at the edge of their camp. They're few miles to the east of the bandits camp. At first Sasuke proposed to stay in the camp for the night, but the freed woman wanted to leave this place as fast as they could, and Sakura agreed with them.

In the end Kakashi stayed in the camp to look over the bandits, leaving leading the hostages through the night to the nearest village to Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. They walked for almost an hour before they decided to rest for the rest of the night. They made a camp under the rock ledge to shield from the rain that was now falling non-stop.

Women lied down almost instantly. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura decided to stay on guard in case that there are still some wandering bandits around. Sasuke took first shift, Naruto disappeared somewhere in the darkness and Sakura lied down. But after two hours of tossing on the futon she stood up and walked to the place where she's sitting now.

She couldn't sleep. She was still seeing, again and again, those brown eyes. How they're widening in shock, pain and fear, until, after what to her seemed like days, everything started to fade, life leaved his eyes, they became blank. She saw all this. She did this. With her own hands, on which, despite thorough cleanings, she was still seeing and feeling blood. She remembered how he started to fall on her, still with her kunai in stomach, reaching towards her as if he wanted to grab and take her with him, wherever he was going...

"Can't sleep?" She heard his voice, but didn't react. She wanted to be left alone. "You ok?"

Sakura sighed. He just couldn't go, huh? "Everything is fine."

"Yeah, sure." Naruto said sarcastically. "...and my foot is not ripped off..." He muttered, but she still heard him. She looked up, at least at his feet, because the sight of the blood seeping through the bandage on it caught her eyes. She blinked to chase away the image of other bloodied limb.

"What the hell happened to you?!" She asked quietly... at least for her standards.

"I just didn't listened to Kakashi, don't..." He stopped. Sakura looked at his face and saw a look of shock and surprise. "You're... worried?..." He mumbled, more to himself than to her.

"Of course I'm worried! My teammate is bleeding like after losing a foot, isn't that a good reason to be worried?!"

Naruto was looking at her for about five seconds before smiling the corner of his lip rose. "It is."

Sakura blinked at him, not sure what that meant. "Weirdo." She muttered. She once again looked at his leg, and this time she couldn't fight the images of a kunai, embed deep inside a stomach, with blood seeping through brown shirt and spraying over the blade and hand that was holding the weapon. Her hand...

"Don't think about it."

Sakura blinked and realized that she's still looking at Naruto's foot. "You should change those bandages before you lose..."

"I wasn't talking about this."

Pinkette looked up to notice that he's eyeing her with a calculating look. She run from this piercing gaze, looking in the direction of a camp. One fire went out, leaving two others to light the sleeping forms of the rescued women.

"How are you doing this?" She suddenly asked, looking at him. "You... you k-killed today for the first time as well, but you seem so uncaring, so... collected, so calm... How are you doing this? Don't you feel anything?" She winced, partly because she realized how it sounded and partly because of the glare that he send her. "I'm s-sorry, I... I didn't mean to..."

Naruto sighed. "I know." He sat on a rock in front of her and glanced over her shoulder. "You're just looking for a way to stay sane." He sighed again and looked in her eyes. "I don't think that there're any words or magic spell that would make you feel better. It's just something that you'll have to get used to if you want to continue your shinobi career. With time it'll became easier. Just make sure that it won't became too easy for you."

Sakura thought for a second. "But how? You want me to don't feel? To abandon all my feelings so I..."

"No." He interrupted her forcefully. "Life without feelings isn't a life. Don't 'abandon' your feelings, take them under control, and if they're too much to take at once, shut them for now and take care of them later." He let her think about this for a while before continuing. "It's not the best method. It won't help, just delay it. But in time of a mission it's necessary." Sakura nodded, seeming to understand what he had told her. "But it's all just like healing symptoms. To really find peace you have to find a reason why you are doing this. For what, or who, you're fighting and enduring such a life." When she looked at him questioningly he asked: "Why have you became shinobi?" She opened her mouth to answer but he spoke first. "Just don't say that it's for Sasuke. After all you meet him already in the academy, so your fangirl crush, however stupid it is, wasn't the reason why you've joined the academy." She looked down, thinking about everything that he just said. "Think about it. And make sure that your drive is good. Because if it won't be, then, no matter how powerful you'll became, someday you'll broke, you'll hesitate. And that'd be your end."

Naruto stood up, leaving her with her own thoughts. He turned around to go back to the camp when he sensed someone approaching them from that way. The figure that was coming from the camp walked closer and Naruto could feel her now shaper. It's a small one. After a few seconds she came from between the rocks, confirming his suspicions. It's this little girl that the bandit was talking to.

'_..._'_you saw this didn't you_'_... no wonder she can't sleep.'_

Sakura heard girl's footsteps and turned to her. She took a closer look. She saw a small girl, judging by height around nine or ten years old, with huge green eyes, one of them partly covered by few bangs of her short grey hair. She's wearing a dark green dress that reached her knees and a blanket over her shoulders. She had only one green sandal. Sakura also noticed few bruises on her legs, hands and face.

"What are you doing here sweetie?" She asked her with a friendly smile. The girl looked at her helplessly.

"You can't sleep?" Asked quietly Naruto, standing on Sakura's site. The girl looked at him, something that Sakura recognised as admiration and trust flashed in her green orbs. She didn't respond. Pinkette decided to try once again.

"Where is your mom?" This wasn't the best idea. She knew that even without Naruto's hiss. Widened eyes and tears that appeared in them were enough to ensure her that she touched a sore topic. Sakura stood up to embrace her, but before she could make a step the girl launched herself at Naruto, hugging him tightly around his waist and burying her face in his stomach. Her shoulders started to shake from sobbing, but she didn't let out any sound.

Naruto froze. Sakura saw his tensed muscles. She looked at his face and was utterly shocked by the sight of his face. Calm, collected Naruto, the one that always had a prepared plan and sarcastic respond, the one that just told her about a killing in such a way that she's sure that today it wasn't his first kill. This very man was now utterly and absolutely helpless against a little girl. He had completely no idea what to do with a child that was now soundlessly sobbing in his shirt. She almost burst out laughing when he looked at her, pleading for advices. It wasn't the right time, she knew it, but it's so different from his normal behaviour that she couldn't help it.

"Embrace her." She mouthed to him. He nodded and slowly, awkwardly, put his arms around the shacking girl. Her only reaction was tightening her grip.

After a few minutes of standing in a complete silence Naruto noticed that he wasn't only embracing her, he's now holding her up. He looked at her closer and noticed that she cried herself to sleep. With a sigh he took her in arms. Still asleep she griped his sweatshirt tightly and snuggled against his chest. Naruto sighed and looked at Sakura.

"Shut up." He said seeing her partly amused, partly shocked face. "Both of you." He added, turning around and walking away in the camp's direction. Sakura frowned at his words.

"I've never thought that I'll see his soft site."

She turned around. Few feet behind her stood Sasuke, looking after the retreating redhead. He had similar face as she few seconds ago. "Sasuke-kun..."

"You should get some sleep."

Sakura thought for a second. "There's no point. In an hour it'll be my shift. I'll just be more sleepy."

"Go. We'll divide the watch between ourselves. Judging by the bags under his eyes and that we didn't see him even once during nights I assume that Naruto didn't sleep the whole week. We can give him a bit of rest." He looked at her and noticed that she had the same, slightly surprised, slightly amused look that she's giving Naruto. "What?"

Sakura blushed and looked down when she realised that he caught her at staring. "Nothing." She mumbled quietly. Sasuke grunted and turned around, but before he made even two steps Sakura added quietly: "I just never thought that I'll see your soft site."

Even if he heard her, he didn't show any sign of it. Sakura sighed, looking at his retreating back. She returned to the camp, lied down on her futon and closed her eyes, thinking about everything that she heard and saw. Last thing that saw was grey-haired girl's peaceful expression, still cuddling to Naruto's side. She didn't saw his face. Hood of his cloak was up, hiding it in the shadow.

* * *

"You sure of this?"

Naruto nodded.

"You will be forced to take care of her."

"If I won't than nobody will. Even normally it'd be hard to find her home, but now? After all these attacks?"

Kakashi sighed and looked at her. She's sitting under a nearby wall with Sakura. Pinkette was talking to her right now.

"Do you even know anything about her?"

"Not much." Admitted Naruto. "Only what I learned from one of the rescued women." Kakashi gave him a questioning look. Redhead sighed. "Rue and her mother were travelling from the Land of Grass to somewhere in the Land of Fire. They leaved after a death of Rue's father few weeks ago. Her mother was quite beautiful, so when they had the bad luck to be in one of the villages during one of the raids she quickly drawn bandits attention. They took Rue too to gain her mother's submission. To make things more... fun..." Naruto's eyes become cold, reminding Kakashi of another pair of blue eyes during great anger. "...they made Rue watch. Her mother died around six days ago." Naruto thought for a few seconds. "I can't really tell you more. At least until I found a way to talk with her."

"She doesn't want to speak?"

"I don't know, maybe she doesn't." Kakashi wanted to say something, but Naruto's faster. "But I think that the bigger problem is that she can't." Jounin shoot him a questioning one-eyed look. "She's mute."

"You know that this will only make everything harder? Are you sure that..."

"Ask me another ten times." Interrupted Naruto. "Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind? I've already thought about this and I think that I have a solution. We only have to find her an apartment or a house and it'd be alright."

"I thought that you wanted to take care of her. You don't want her to live with you?"

"It's not that I have anything against it... but considering my status..." Naruto pointed at his stomach. "I don't think that this is the best idea. Villagers should leave her if she'll just meet me sometimes, but if they notice that she's living with me they could take her on target."

Kakashi sighed. Unfortunately, it's quite possible. As his ANBU guard he saw few times how those kind for him were hurt. He suspected that it's the reason why Naruto's separating himself.

The girl was actually someone that Konoha needed. As a Jinchuuriki, they couldn't afford themselves to let him leave the village. Someone in Konoha that he'd be caring for could stop this from happening. And Naruto already seamed attached to her.

Kakashi didn't like his own line of thoughts. But he's Konoha shinobi. He had to protect the village, even if it meant sacrificing his...

'_...who abandon their comrades are worse than trash...'_

Obito's words run through his mind. Memories of the last hours of his very best friend flooded Kakashi's mind. Image of his second friend, Rin, flashed in front of his eyes. _'Am I really ready to sacrifi...'_

"Kakashi?" Naruto's voice invaded his thoughts. "We still have a few hours of the day, but in the end the sun will set you know."

"Okay, okay..." Silver-haired Jounin looked at him for a few seconds before speaking again. "...Okay, I agree, we'll take the girl with us to Konoha. Until we reach it you're responsible for her, after that we'll see." He then send him an eye-smile. "And I'm not going to help you with her." He added cheerfully.

"You know what?" Asked Naruto with a glare. "This may be a bit shocking, but for some unknown to me reason I've never expected any help from you, Lazy-ass-sensei." Kakashi's eye-smile disappeared, and Naruto heard him mumbling something like 'no respect', 'brats those days' and 'lazy-ass-sensei'. "Come on, let's tell Rue about this."

"You didn't tell her?"

"I wasn't sure about your answer, so I didn't wanted to give her a false hope. Rue!" Grey-haired head turned from something that Sakura was showing her with her hands. "Come here." The girl jumped down from the box that she's sitting on and run to them, looking at them with a question in eyes. "We're thinking what to do with you and we've two ideas."

Kakashi looked at her, wondering if she really couldn't talk. She may not be able to speak, but her eyes and face were so expressive that he almost could hear her voice, timid, curious and a bit scared, saying: _'What are you going to do with me?'_

"Well, first idea is for you to stay here." Rue's eyes widened. "Don't worry, we'll find you a good family that will take care of you." _'Even if it'd mean using a few kunais.' _Added Naruto in his head.

Her eyes watered. They noticed her disappointed and dejected look before she run from their gazes. Once again, it was like hearing her voice, saying: _'You're going to leave me?'_.

"If you don't like this idea you can always come with us." Continued Naruto in an uncaring tone, looking at the clouded sky, but slight twitching of his lip betrayed him. Sensing her head shooting up he looked down only to meet her green eyes boring into his blue ones. He kneeled on one knee with a corners of his lips curled in a small smile. "We'll take you to Konoha. Once there I'll take care of you. I won't be able to be there all the..." A pair of small arms that went around his neck interrupted him. For a second he's too surprised to react, but he quickly composed himself and hugged her back, even if a bit awkwardly. They stayed like this for a few seconds before he chuckled. "Should I take it as a yes?" She stepped back and nodded vigorously with a radiant smile.

Sakura watched this all with a smile of her own, thinking in the same time that during the last week she learned more about Naruto than during the whole academy. For example, she just learned how his real smile looked like. It wasn't the lip twitch one, that until now she's taking as his real smile. It wasn't a smirk nor smug grin that he showed when he's teasing and provocating her or Sasuke-kun. It wasn't even this huge grin that she remembered from the first months of the academy. It's a small, but definitely happy smile. One that clearly showed his pleasure at Rue's decision.

For a few seconds they're smiling to each other, before Rue rose her hands and with a cute frown started wriggling her fingers, forming a handsign that, much to Kakashi's surprise, looked almost like 'time'.

"Middle finger must be curled." Advised Naruto, making the handsign himself. "Like that. And as for an answer, Sasuke should be here soon with our backpacks, then we can move out."

"Oh? You want to leave already?" asked Kakashi.

"You don't?"

"No, no, it's not like that. I was just sure that I'd have to order, plead and threat you to force you to move, and we'd still stay for at least a night."

"Really?" Sakura and Naruto sweat dropped seeing his obviously surprised, and a bit relieved face. "Well, sorry to disappoint you, but Sasuke was pleading us with a teary puppy eyes. Guess he just miss home."

"Watch it, dobe." Said Sasuke, appearing behind Kakashi. He had his backpack on his back and was carrying second, equally huge, in his hands. "Damn, they're heavy." He put the second one on the ground and breathed with relief. "Why did I volunteered to this?" He muttered under his nose.

"That actually is a good question." Said Naruto with a small smirk. "Why did you?"

Sasuke looked away, mumbling something under his nose. Naruto's smirk widened.

"So do you have everything?" Asked Kakashi.

Sasuke and Sakura nodded. Naruto wiped his smirk and was about to follow, but he stopped and turned to Rue. "Do you want to take something with you?" She send him an uncertain look. "Don't worry about clothes. We can buy you something in Konoha. But if you have some... kind of souvenir..." He trailed off, not sure how to ask about it gently. Rue's hand reached to her throat. Naruto noticed silver chain around it. He couldn't see what was on it cause it 's hidden by her clothes. But he didn't had to. "From your parents?" He asked quietly, so only she could hear him. Rue looked at him, a bit surprised, before nodding. "Cherish it. That's more than most of us have anyway." Her eyes widened, but before she could find a way to ask what does he meant he spoke louder. "So that's everything." Seeing her nod he looked at Kakashi, who was eyeing them the whole time. "We're ready."

Jounin nodded. "So can we go?"

"Shouldn't we inform somebody that we're leaving?" Asked Sakura. "...give a report... or something..."

"I talked with Okihawa's Mayor when I was there." Interrupted Sasuke. "He's the one that hired us so I thought that it'd be proper."

"Good thinking." Praised Kakashi. "So, anything else?"

Four kids shocked their heads. Kakashi was about to order to move out, but shout from their left was faster.

"Wait!"

They turned to see three women approaching them. Naruto recognised them as the rescued hostages. When they came closer the one on right, blonde that was in the same cell as Rue, spoke: "We just wanted to thank you. If not for you, we'd die or went crazy there."

"Don't mention it." Said Kakashi, while Sakura smiled with pride and Sasuke seemed to swell a bit. "We were just doing our job."

"Nevertheless..." Started the one in the middle, with a strange, long, dark green hair. "...you saved us. You may say that it's just a job, but to us, you're heroes. We'll be..."

"We're not heroes." Interrupted emotionlessly Naruto. "We're shinobi." Without any further explanation he turned around and walked away. Rue run after him and took his hand. He's a bit surprised, but didn't take it away.

"Sweetie?" He heard blonde woman shouting behind them. "You're going with them?" Rue turned and nodded her head. They heard Kakashi explaining to the worried women what they decided. Naruto put his hood up.

They walked in silence for about two minutes before his teammates caught up. Naruto winced when he heard Sakura's screams. _'It's so peaceful and quiet...'_ He thought with a few last hours in mind.

"Naruto! What the hell was that?! They're just nice and you... scolded her!" Naruto didn't respond. "What was that about anyway?" She asked, this time quieter and softer. "You reacted as if she..." She trailed off, searching for a good word.

"Insulted you." Ended for her Sasuke.

Naruto looked down. He could sense Rue walking alongside him, Sasuke and Sakura slightly behind on both his sides, and Kakashi behind them all. He could fell their eyes on himself. _'Why are they suddenly so interested?'_

"We're not heroes." Repeated Naruto. "We're shinobi. We're not doing this because of kindness of our hearths. We're doing this because they're paying. Because we received an order. We're not knights in shiny armours that come to rescue poor and helpless."

Naruto continued walking without looking at them. He didn't have to. Rue probably didn't understand anything. She was just a nine year old civilian child after all. Sakura was or shocked, not understanding most of it as well, or thoughtful, realising that it's exactly how she's imagining shinobi life. Sasuke was trying to be unreadable, but he'd still be able to recognise surprise , if he didn't thought about this, or, more possibly, understanding. And Kakashi would be as lazy, at least on the outside, as always.

"But..." Started Sakura, but Naruto interrupted.

"I just don't want to be taken as someone that I'm not." Kakashi's head snapped a bit. Naruto scowled, sensing all of their attention on himself. Whole his life he's ignored, so now he felt uncomfortable with it. He searched for a way to change subject. He felt how Sasuke adjusted his backpack stripes. Naruto sighed and stopped, turning around and outstretching his arms towards his teammates.

"Give me them." Sasuke and Sakura looked at him uncertain. "Your backpacks. I'll take them."

Sakura took it off with a grateful smile. Sasuke on the other hand...

"I don't need your help, Uzumaki." He growled, adding a glare.

Naruto shrugged, taking Sakura's pack and drawing a book from his pouch. "I'm not going to force you." He said, turning to hide his smirk and winking at Rue. "I wanted to seal it for you and give it back when we stop at camp, but if you want to carry it all way to Konoha..." He trailed off, sealing Sakura's backpack and counting in mind, exchanging smiles with Rue.

Sasuke lasted whole eleven seconds before he caved. "Okay." He said with resignation, taking his pack off.

"Okay what, Sasuke?" Naruto turned to him, putting on as innocent face as he could manage. Which was quite hard after seeing Sakura's attempts to suppress her giggles and Kakashi's amused look.

Uchiha send him murderous glare, but then he had to realise that this wouldn't help him. He forced his neutral face on and asked... politely. At least as politely as he could. "Can you seal it for me?"

"You sure?" Asked Naruto with a mock surprise. "Almighty Uchiha-sama really needs help from such a lowly dead-last as me?" Sakura let out something between cough, sneeze, and snort, though in the same time she was glaring at him.

"Don't push it, dobe." Growled Sasuke. Naruto finally showed him his grin, to which Uchiha responded with a murderous glare. After a few seconds he looked away and rolled his shoulders, trying to save the last scrapes of his pride. "That's better." He said and bolted forward with speed unreachable for someone without chakra. Sakura quickly followed, shouting after him.

Naruto's lip twitched when he heard Kakashi's mutters about 'easy, relaxing trip'. He looked at the small girl still standing at his side and smiled, seeing her awed face.

"You like that?" Rue looked at him and nodded, smiling brightly. "You want to go as fast as they?" This time she looked questioningly. Naruto crouched in front of her. "Jump on my back." She hesitated for a second before wrapping her small arms around his neck. He grabbed her thighs and stood up. "Hold tight." And with this as an only warning he shoot forward after his two teammates. Rue's grip around his neck quickly tightened. He's observing by the corner of his eye how her face turned, from fear, through careful curiosity, to open joy. Seeing her shining green eyes and big smile Naruto's sure that only being mute was stopping her from laughing out loud.

* * *

"You can go in." Said tall, black man as he and his three companions, all clad in similar clothes as Kakashi, walked out of, as Naruto said, Hokage's office. Rue jumped down on her feet from her seat next to the redhead and followed him, keeping close.

They walked inside quite big, round room with cases on both sides with many books and scrolls, and a windows covering the wall in front of them, showing a great sight of the village. In front of it stood a desk with a lot of papers on it. Behind it sat an old man with grey beard and black eyes, wearing white and red robes and a hat in the same colours with a kanji for 'fire' on it.

"Ah, Team 7, with a report from your first C-rank I assume?" Spoke old man when they all stood in line in front of the desk. Then his eyes landed on her. "And who you might be?" His tone was polite, his eyes were calm and warm, but Rue still couldn't resist the urge to hide behind Naruto.

Said redhead put a hand on her head. She looked up at him to see his reassuring smile. "Don't be afraid. I know that he looks a bit weird, but he's one of the kindest man in Konoha."

"BAKA! That's not the way to talk to Hokage-sama! Show some respect!" Shouted Sakura, but Hokage only laughed.

"Don't worry, Haruno-san, I'm not offended. But you still didn't answer my question." He looked at her once again with curiosity. "What's your name, little one?"

Rue looked at Naruto helplessly. He nodded and spoke. "Her name is Rue. She's mute. We've met her during our mission, and because she didn't have a place to stay we decided to take her with us."

Hokage's look became even more interested. Rue shuddered under his gaze. Yes, it was warm. Yes, it was comforting. But at the same time it's piercing, like as if this old man was reading her mind. Naruto must have feel her shoulder cause he ruffled her hair lightly. Normally she would glare at him for that and he would give her this almost unnoticeable grin, but right now she was glad for this little sign.

"Looks like you have a lot to tell me, right?" Said Hokage, turning his eyes to Kakashi.

So Kakashi spoke. Rue listened as he talked, first about their journey, mentioning about something called 'tree-walking' that Genins had mastered, then about their arrival to Okihawa, talk with a mayor, Naruto's reconnaissance, ambush on the road and the attack on the camp. Then he explained that after her mother's death she had nowhere to go, so Naruto decided to take care of her.

Hokage listened quietly with fingertips of both of his hands joined on the desk, not asking any questions. When Kakashi ended he sighed and looked at the others.

"If what Kakashi said is true then I'm quite impressed by your performance." He then looked at her. "As for you, little one, I don't have anything against your staying here." Despite his gaze she smiled at him, to which he responded with his own warm one, before frowning. "...but... Naruto, Kakashi said that you want to take care of her. You sure you can handle this?"

"I took care of myself since I was five. I think I'll manage somehow." Rue turned to him surprised, noticing as well the slight wince on Hokage's face and shocked looks that Sasuke and Sakura were giving Naruto. "I'd only need help with finding her a good apartment. I'm not good with that." Totally forgetting about a small Naruto living on his own Rue quickly tugged on his shoulder. When he looked at her she pointed at herself, made a handsign for 'live' and pointed at him. "Ummm, no Rue, it wouldn't be the best idea." She glared at him, waiting for a different answer. "Don't look at me like that. It's not that I don't want to take you, I just can't." She stamped and shocked her head. "Come on, Rue..."

"Take her." Spoke suddenly Hokage. "At least for a few days. You'd have to anyway, since finding a proper apartment will take some time."

Naruto looked like he still wanted to argue, but after a few seconds he let out a resigned sigh. "Okay, I'll take you." Rue beamed, first at him, and then at the Hokage. "But only for a few days." Warned Naruto. But her smile didn't falter. She's sure that she'd find a way to convince him.

Hokage chuckled and said. "Okay Team 7, I'll give you three days free to rest. Kakashi stay for a bit, I want to talk with you. The rest is dismissed."

They bowed in respect and walked out, leaving Hokage and Kakashi alone. They walked down the stairs in silence. Rue was starting to feel a bit scared, cause Naruto didn't look at her once since they leaved the office. So when they stood outside the Hokage tower and started walking in some unknown for her direction she tugged his sleeve, pointed at him, made a handsign for 'bad' and then pointed at herself. Naruto seemed confused. "Why am I bad for you?" He asked, not sure what she's asking him about. She shocked her head and thought for a second, before remembering more proper handsign: 'Anger'. "Am I angry at you?" She nodded. "No, Rue, I'm not angry. It's not that I don't want to take you, I just don't think that it'd be the best idea."

She frowned and was about to ask him why, but Sakura's voice interrupted them. "How about we eat something to celebrate this?"

Sasuke grunted and schrugged, which, after a week in his company, Rue could translate as: 'Why not? I don't have anything else to do anyway'. She herself smiled and nodded, but Naruto...

"Nahhh, I think I'll pass."

"Oh come on, we weren't on team lunch even once." Whined Sakura. When he didn't budge, she sighed and said. "Rue, grab the other one." With that she took his right wrist and dragged him. Rue quickly helped her with the left hand. For a few seconds Naruto seemed too surprised to react. But then he suddenly stopped.

"No, just not there, dattebayo!"

"Dattebayo?" Asked Sakura.

What happened next shocked Rue. She let go of Naruto's hand and looked at him, at the same boy that saved her, that during the whole week was always was so calm and collected, only few times showing some small smirk or smile. The same Naruto that right now was BLUSHING!.

They're all looking at him, which seemed to deepen the blush even more. They stared like this for a few seconds before another voice spoke.

"Naruto-kun?"

Rue turned to the enter of the shop where Sakura was dragging them, some ramen stand. In front of it stood teenage girl with a black eyes and brown hair, held in place by a white headscarf. She wore white pants and hakama shirt, with a blue square apron around the waist. She had a confused look on her face, which quickly turned to excitement.

"It's you!" She exclaimed, running to him and grabbing his hands. "It's so wonderful to see you!" Where have you been?! You didn't visit us for months! Come on, you have to come in! And I don't want to hear any excuses!" She ended her mini rant with a stern face, dragging him inside the stand.

Rue looked at the other two. They had as surprised face as she expected on hers. After a quick thought they all schrugged and followed the 'kidnapped' Redhead. When they went inside they saw Naruto, already seated on the stool, talking to the old man standing behind the counter in similar clothes as the girl's. She wasn't anywhere in sight.

"...already told you why I don't want to come here."

"And I already told you that I don't care and you shouldn't too. If they don't want to eat here then I'm not going to force anybody."

"You know, Neechan pretty much forced me to come here."

Old man grinned. "You're an exception, Naruto."

Rue sat at the stool next to Naruto. Said Redhead seemed to just notice her presence. "Oh, sorry, I almost forget. Teuchi, this is Rue, I'm taking care of her. And those are Sasuke and Sakura, my teammates. And this is Ichiraku Teuchi, owner of the best ramen stand in the whole Konoha, and the girl you saw before was Ayame, his daughter."

As in on cue Ayame walked from the back of the stand with two huge steaming bowls in hands and placed them in front of Naruto. "Dig in."

"Thanks Neechan."

"Neechan?" Asked Sakura. "But I thought that you're an orphan..."

Rue looked at her knees. "Thanks Sakura." She heard Naruto's cold voice. "I almost forgot."

"No... I didn't mean to..." Stammered Pinkette. "...I'm so..."

"Me and Ayame are not related." Interrupted Naruto. "But she helped me to take care of myself when I was younger. She's like an older sister to me during one of the toughest times."

Rue wanted to ask more, she knew almost nothing about him. She knew him only for a week, and Naruto wasn't too talkative most of the time, and when it was about his past he was even worse. But even she heard in his voice that he don't want to talk about it. So she tugged his slave and pointed at his bowls.

"You want some too?" She nodded. "Ok, Old man, one small bowl of miso ramen for her."

Sasuke and Sakura also made their orders. Ayame disappeared once again and Teuchi started talking with them, about their team, sensei, life as a shinobi, what they thought about Naruto. At this last topic Naruto hung his head, quietly eating his second bowl, while Sasuke mumbled something like 'tolerable', and Sakura said about 'good teammate that helped her a lot'. Rue couldn't say anything, so she just leaned closer to him. Naruto looked at her and ruffled her hair. She pouted, and the corner of his mouth rose slightly.

Ayame came back. Rue became so occupied with her own bowl that she didn't notice anything strange until Sakura spoke. "You sure you can eat all this?"

Rue looked up. Pinkette was looking at Naruto who just nodded and went back to eating his own ramen. Grey-haired girl wasn't sure what Sakura meant, until she noticed that in front of Naruto stood two, already empty, huge bowls, and two more were waiting for him.

Teuchi laughed. "You have no idea how much he can eat."

"He ate normally on the mission." Muttered Sasuke.

"That's because it's only with ramen."

They continued their talk and meals, still stealing some glances at Naruto from time to time as he's inhaling his fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and finally ninth bowl. When he drank the broth from it he loudly put the bowl on the counter and sighed with satisfaction.

"Already?" Asked surprised Teuchi.

"Yes, at least for today. I's getting dark and me and Rue should go home already." At the mention of the sleeping the girl couldn't suppress a yawn.

"Wait a sec, we'll give you some take-out." Said Ayame and along with Teuchi rushed to the backs.

"Well, I'm leaving as well." Said Sasuke standing up.

"Wait!" Suddenly exclaimed Sakura. "I wanted to ask you some..."

"I'm not going on a date with you."

"No, that's not what I meant." Assured him Sakura... despite the disappointed look. "I wanted to ask you and Naruto for help." Sasuke looked at her with slight curiosity. "I... I want you two to... to train me."

This drew much more attention. Naruto looked at her clearly surprised, Sasuke on the other hand frowned. "YOU want to train?" He asked with disbelief.

Sakura winced hearing the doubt in his voice, but nodded nonetheless. "Yes, I do. I thought about your words Naruto. I'm not really sure about the answer. Maybe it's the stories about shinobi, maybe how I wanted to be as... independent as Ino. Maybe something else. Or maybe all." Rue had no idea what she's talking about. She looked at the other two. Sasuke's unreadable once again and Naruto was about to say something but Sakura's first. "But I think that the better question is: 'what is my drive now?'" Now Sasuke looked a bit interested, Naruto just waited patiently. "I... I don't want to be a dead weight anymore. I don't want to hold you two back. I want to help. But to do that..." She rose her head up from her feet and gave them a determined look. "...I need more training."

Both boys thought for a few seconds. "But why us?" Asked Naruto. "Why not Kakashi? I'm sure that he'd help you if only you'd ask him."

Sakura schrugged. "I don't know. It just feel... righter to ask you."

Naruto and Sasuke looked at themselves, before Sasuke grunted. "Hn. I used to train alone."

Sakura hung her head. Naruto grinned slightly. "So tomorrow at six? Seven?"

"Six will be good. She need to get use to this anyway."

"Ground 7?"

"Hn."

"Okay, you heard, Sakura?"

Sakura looked from one to another with a puzzled face. It took her a while to understand what this all meant. When she finally did she smiled brightly and launched at them, hugging them both.

"Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"

"Oi!"

"Sakura, off."

She listened stepping away, but the smile was still in place. Naruto waved at Rue. He crouched, allowing her to jump on his back. "I might be a bit late." He said, standing up and taking ramen from Ayame that just emerged from the back. "And Sakura... prepare for hell."

With that Naruto jumped, taking them to the roofs. Sun already set and Konoha was illuminated only by street lanterns and shop lights. Rue wanted to watch the sights. She really did...

But Naruto's back was so comfortable...

She didn't notice when she fell asleep.

* * *

**Well, I promised that I will post it before Christmas and this time I managed it :D**

**About the chapter. Rue - it's the same as with Sayuri. At first I meant her as an one-chapter character, then I decided to add her for a bit more. And if you're wondering why she became so attached to Naruto so quickly, think about it like that. She lost her father, few weeks later move out of her hometown, get in the hands of bandits, was forced to watch, then her mother died. She was alone, in a totally unknown place, not having anybody. So she clung to someone who gave her some kind of security. If Naruto would just leave her she would probably just remember him as a hero of some kind, but because he responded with kindness, she became attached.**

**Oh, and Naruto didn't stay awake for the whole week. Thanks to the Kyuubi he has much more stamina then most. In canon it was shown by his hiperactivness, in my story he just use it more... economically. So, he isn't sleeping as much as the rest, using the spare time to train or do other things, but he isn't a machine. If needed, he would probably be able to stay without a sleep for a long time, maybe even a few weeks, just like normal person can stay awake for few days, but if he doesn't have to then he sleeps once for three, four days.**

**And I hope I don't have to explain why he reacted that way on the: "You're heroes", right?**

**Dattebayo - No, I didn't forget it. It's just that he is much more like his mother now. He's trying to suppress it, but in time of a great excitement and embarrassment he slips.**

**And last thing, Ichirakus. He was coming to them very often, but after he learned about the Kyuubi he noticed that they're persecuted. So he tried to stay away from them, for their own good. As you can see, they didn't like it that much.**

**That would be all about this chapter. Unfortunately, I have no idea when I post the next one. Right now I'm in the last class of a high school and I have to start revising for the ending exams. I'm not abandoning it, but I might have a problem with posting new chapters every month.**

**Until next time then, hopefully in the next month. Happy Christmas and New Year Guys!**


	8. 08 - Just Another Day

**Well, first of all sorry that it took so long. I had kind of hectic few months, and they've still not finished. But thankfully I can post it, and this time, thanks to TheGodfather93 it's also beta corected.**

**So, read and review.**

**Disclaimer: I really have to? I wrote it already seven times, you surely know that I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

A few weeks had passed.

Team 7 had gotten into a routine, and were meeting early at Training Ground 7 to start their training. For the first week or two it was hell for Sakura, but eventually she became used to it. She was still doing only half the exercises than Naruto and Sasuke were doing, but she no longer had any problems with staying conscious.

At around 10 o'clock they were stopping for their team meeting with Kakashi... which was, unsurprisingly, supposed to start at 8. They never told him about their training, and initially Naruto wasn't sure why. At first it was because of Sakura's pleas. Maybe she wanted to surprise him? Eventually though, the concept of answering the question, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" became far too awkward a proposition. Naruto wasn't complaining though; the less people knew about him the better.

Upon the Jounin's arrival the young ninjas found out they were going on a mission or doing some kind of training. The missions they received these days were mostly D-rank in nature. They received one more C-rank which tasked them with patrolling in the north-western part of Fire Country, but it was totally uneventful. Kakashi seemed a bit surprised that they weren't complaining about that, but they decided that they could wait. Naruto and Sasuke were ready, but Sakura wanted more time. Their first mission shocked her greatly. She was very quiet during the patrol, almost as quiet as Naruto in the academy.

Training with Kakashi now mainly revolved around chakra control. He tried to come back to teamwork at their first meeting after the first C-rank, but he changed his mind... partly became of the glares, and partly due to the threats of finding his apartment in rather unpleasant conditions. In the end, he decided on teaching them more useful chakra control exercises; water-walking, maintaining a constant body temperature, increasing lung capacity. He even mentioned something about ninjutsu training soon.

Kakashi left his students at around 6 p.m., at which point they either continued their training or decided to hang out. The group started to keep together, but the only people who knew about this were Ichirakus, where they started eating regularly after the first few times when Sasuke and Sakura dragged Naruto there by force, and Rue, who didn't really have anyone to hang out with. Because of her disability she didn't have any friends, but she seemed to be perfectly happy as long as Naruto was around.

Apart from those three nobody knew about the changes in Team 7 behavior. They were keeping it a secret. In Naruto's case, it was because he didn't want to expose his teammates to the villagers' hate. He still was thinking about keeping his distance at times. But being with his team was almost making him forget about his problems.

He feared the day when the villagers found out about this. And he feared the day when his teammates found out about his tenant. He had already accepted the fact that they would do so eventually… that much was inevitable.

For their part, Sasuke and Sakura were keeping it secret for him. They accepted it.

And Naruto was grateful for it.

In their personal training they were concentrating mostly on physical aspect, especially Sakura. She listened to Naruto's advice, which was to catch up with them in strength and speed before thinking about ninjutsu, or genjutsu, considering her excellent chakra control.

Sasuke's schedule was pretty similar, apart from the fact that he was doing twice as much as she was. He was also adding advanced weapon exercises, including deflecting shuriken against one another to reach different targets, and one with ninja wire. In addition to this, he attempted to perfect his Fire Style: Great Fireball, and a new jutsu; Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire.

Naruto's training wasn't drastically different, although instead of ninjutsu he was experimenting with fuuinjutsu. This wasn't because he didn't want to learn ninjutsu, he just had no idea where to start. Seals, on the other hand, he was far more familiar with. He had two books about them; a basic one about storage seals and explosive tags, and one about chakra suppressing seals. It wasn't much, but he noticed that he was good at understanding how they worked and combining them. Through this, he learnt to create normal clones using a variation of a chakra suppressing seal to lower the amount of chakra he was pumping in them, or his storage seals, where he created levels in the amount of chakra that was used, where any excess chakra was pushed back. This eliminated the smoke and sound during summoning. He could only use enough chakra to summon one or two kunai, never one and a half. The only downside was that this was only usable with objects of a similar weight.

That was what he was doing now; experimenting with seals, in particular, explosive tags. When he heard a quiet thud and not so quiet groan he looked up and noticed Sakura, who was massaging her arm. He sighed. "I may be wrong, but weren't you supposed to evade his attacks, not block them?"

Sakura growled. "Easy for you to say. Can't you hold back a bit?" She turned to Sasuke with a scowl.

Inwardly wondering when the hell Sakura learned how to scowl at 'her Sasuke-kun' Naruto answered for him. "He can't. Otherwise you'd take your sweet time while training with him."

Sakura blushed, Sasuke glared, and he went back to his seals, smirking slightly.

"Can we take a break?" Sasuke must have agreed, because Naruto sensed them coming closer to the tree under which he and Rue were sitting. The girl was reading a book about basic chakra knowledge.

Rue was still living with him. At first Naruto was constantly asking the Hokage about the apartment for her, but his only answers were that he forgot, or that he couldn't find a proper one. After a week or two he became tired of this and stopped asking... and it had nothing to do with the teary look that Rue gave him anytime he brought this up.

Two weeks earlier she told him that she wanted to became a kunoichi. He wasn't surprised. He hoped that she would choose something else, but he doubted that would happen. He also didn't ask why. She'd probably say something about not wanting to be weak, or losing someone else. Naruto didn't try to talk her out of it either. As he said to Sasuke and Sakura later, he wasn't her father. He didn't have any right to say what she could and couldn't do.

They brought this up with Kakashi, but somehow they ended up talking to the Hokage. Someone could say that the leader of a shinobi village had better things to do than worry about another orphan that wanted to became a shinobi. In the end he gave Rue two options; she could go to the first class with the younger kids, or join her peers in the third year after catching up with them on her own. And because she was a patient and mature person she decided to start from the bottom...

'_Damn, even in thought it sounds stupid...'_

"Owww," whined Sakura, rubbing her arm. "Why can't I move onto ninjutsu?"

"I don't remember anyone saying that you can't," muttered Naruto, going back to his seal. "I just advised that you should improve your physical skills that were damaged by Sasuke." He didn't have to look up to sense the temperature rising from Sakura's blush and the killing intent infused glare from the Uchiha.

"So you think I can start training ninjutsu?"

"If you still insist on ninjutsu..."

Sakura schrugged. "I know that you advised me to learn genjutsu, but I heard that it's very easy. I don't know why everybody is always saying that it needs great chakra control."

"Casting a genjutsu isn't hard," Naruto explained, "maintaining it is." There was silence for a few seconds. He looked up and noticed their blank stares. He sighed. Was he the only one that was thinking about what they heard in the academy? "Sakura, you remember what we learned about dispelling genjutsu?"

She nodded. "Yes, one way is to change the flow of the chakra, the other is to simply overwhelm it with sheer power."

"Good, now, a genjutsu user's job is not only to cast it, but also to change it if your opponent can disrupt its chakra flow."

Sakura thought for a while. "You mean... to adjust it to the changed flow so the illusion wouldn't disappear, right?" Naruto nodded and went back to his seal.

"What about overwhelming?"

Naruto sighed and once again looked up, this time at Sasuke. "I'm not sure. The only thing I thought about was trying to tire the enemy." Sasuke nodded in understanding, but Sakura seemed puzzled. The Uchiha sighed and started explaining.

"Overwhelming is tiring Sakura. You have to use more chakra than your opponent has put into their illusions." Sakura nodded. She knew that. "The problem is that you don't know how much chakra your opponent is using. He could use very little, so using a large burst is wasting. But he could use a lot, and if you use less than he is, you will fail in dispelling the illusion."

"Not only that," added Naruto, making a few finishing touches to his seal, "when you fail to dispose it, you'll lose the amount of chakra you used, but you won't weaken the illusion, so no matter if you tried four times before, or if you are doing it for the first time, you still have to use the same amount to dispel it. And you're losing time. In battle you need every part of the second."

There was another moment of silence. Naruto sensed that they were looking at him and was about to ask what they wanted, but Sakura was first. "How do you know all this? Did you fight against a genjutsu user before?"

Naruto shook his head. "My only experience is like yours, from the academy, when they showed us how it looks like." _'Though I'm sure that you didn't have to look at the Kyuubi's attack.' _he added in thought.

"Then how..."

"I've never been the most social person... I've had a lot of time to think." Naruto checked everything once again. _'Power, radius... time... everything seems fine.'_

He added chakra, listening with one ear as Sasuke was telling Sakura about ninjutsu: _'Good, now to test it... wait, it's too warm.'_

"...first what your affinity is. Mine, as all Uchiha..."

"Ummm, guys..." Interrupted Naruto. The seal started to burn his fingers. "Run."

He threw the seal away, but because it was paper it didn't fly far. Grabbing Rue's shoulder the redhead quickly replaced them with a nearby log. His teammates also fled; Sakura by substitution while Sasuke just jumped away.

For a few seconds nothing happened...

And then flames burst from the rock, and a ball of white-hot fire of around two feet in radius consumed most of the stone they were sitting near before. It lasted for five or six seconds before dying down, leaving a melted rock, still glowing with a dark red colour.

"What the hell happened?!" screamed Sakura.

"Calm down, it's only an explosive tag,"

"You trying to kill us or something?!"

"I said calm down. I just forgot to reinforce the seal."

"What were you doing anyway?" Sasuke butted in, probably to stop Sakura from screaming.

"I wanted to make an explosive tag with a smaller but hotter explosion," the redhead remarked.

"Then what went wrong?"

"Ummm... probably too much inner pressure on the seal formula caused strains, which ended up overpowering and breaking the chakra restraints."

They were silent for a few seconds before Sakura turned to Sasuke and asked, "Is it bad that I didn't understand anything he just said?"

"Hn," 'Responded' Sasuke with a shrug.

"Naruto, can you explain it to us in a way that would be understandable for someone who isn't fuuinjutsu prodigy?" Sakura asked the redhead.

"I'm not a prodigy."

"Yeah, sure you're not," Sasuke said sarcastically. "And I thought that he was smart..." He paused before adding under his breath, "... at least as smart as the dead last could be."

"Naruto," started Sakura, sounding like an adult that was explaining something totally basic to a three year old child, "the only experience with seals you have is what you learned on your own, without any help, using just two basic books. And yet you've not only learned them, you've started to combine them, modify, play with them..."

"But this is easy," Naruto interrupted. "What's hard is in taking part of the seal and modifying it or putting it into something else, if you're understanding how it works?"

"Not everybody knows it on the first look," Sasuke pointed out.

"But they're almost screaming at you!" Naruto exclaimed. "You just have to look at them and you'll understand which parts do what. It's explaining it to you itself!"

Sakura sighed. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. You just have to look at them and you understand which part does what. But for me and Sasuke-kun it's just a bunch of some random lines and symbols."

Naruto looked from one to another with surprise evident on his face. They really couldn't understand it? He heard that fuuinjutsu was supposed to be really hard and complex, but for him it always seemed so easy.

"You still didn't explain to us what happened," Sasuke remarked, snapping the redhead out of his thoughts.

Naruto opened his mouth, but Sakura was faster. "Just please, make it simple, okay?"

Naruto thought for a while, then sighed. "Easier said than done..." he muttered before raising his voice. "You know that explosive tags are one of the seals that have chakra... containers? I remember Mohura talking about it before she threw me out." 'Container' wasn't the right word, but he couldn't remember the one that was used by their academy teacher.

"Why did she throw you out?" asked Sasuke as Sakura nodded. They were asking every time he brought something like that up in hope that he'd slip something. So far they hadn't had any luck. But today...

"You want to learn about the seal or not?" Well, they didn't have it either. Sasuke sighed and motioned for him to continue. "Anyway, I tried to modify the tags to make them more concentrated, hotter. Standard tags are not too deadly. They would hurt you, a lot, but it wouldn't be fatal."

"Voice of experience?" Sakura asked innocently.

"Maybe," Naruto replied and continued, ignoring their surprised looks. "I think that when I made the explosion more condensed, the chakra that I put in it was also condensed. I didn't strengthen the container so the pressure that the chakra put on it was too big and activated the seal."

Sasuke, Sakura and Rue, surprisingly enough, nodded their heads. Sakura, noticing the other girl's movement, turned to face her. "You understood too, Rue-chan?" When she nodded once again Sakura looked back at Naruto. "You know what that means?" she asked. "That YOU," she pointed at him. "...should became a teacher."

Naruto blinked once, then twice, before chuckling slightly. "Nah, I don't think so."

"But you just explained the modification and working of a seal to a nine year old girl who has only been studying about chakra for two weeks, in a way that she could understand!"

"Maybe. But do you really think that I have enough patience to squabble with arrogant, almighty brats, sleeping lazy-asses or fangirls." Naruto asked with a ghost of a smirk on his face.

Sakura growled. "Then can you tell me-"

"No." Sasuke interrupted. The pinkette looked at him questioningly. "You're distracting us to lengthen your break. Let's go."

"But I di-"

"Now."

Sakura sighed and followed him. A moment later Naruto smiled slightly, hearing grunts and thuds when the resumed their spar. His smile widened almost unnoticeably when he heard one louder thud followed by a quiet yelp from Sakura. With a sigh he drew another tag from one of him many pockets and started constructing another seal. First thing - reinforcing the chakra container.

Rue tugged on his slave and he looked at her. "Why your teacher throw you out. Past. Question." she asked through hand signs. In the week after their return to Konoha they found four books about sign language, including which parts were used in shinobi's hand signs. Rue dived into it, learning the content with such speed that Naruto had to pull a few all-nighters just to keep up with her, and still she sometimes managed to surprise him with a handsign that he didn't know. She also created a few of her own to use as a names. He noticed that his was something between 'big' and 'brother,' but he didn't say anything.

"Sorry Rue, I can't tell you." She looked at him pleadingly, huge green eyes wide open and a bit wet, lower lip trembling slightly. But Naruto only snorted. "You have used this too many times. It's not working anymore." Rue pouted. She was using this look to get what she wanted, but after few weeks Naruto became immune to her attempts. Others, on the other hand, had a really hard time.

"You tell me anyway. Future." she signed and crossed her arms on her chest. Naruto didn't argue. He was trying to hide as much as he could and be cold, but she was too smart and perceptive for him to hide anything from her for too long. He knew that sooner or later she'd make him reveal it.

And, just like with his teammates, he feared the day that happened.

About half an hour before their team meeting they stopped their training and started cleaning up, hiding any evidence of their prior actions, and trying to make it look like they were waiting the whole time.

"What about this?" asked Sakura, pointing at the melted rock.

"We can say that I accidentally set off few explosive tags." Naruto proposed.

"Will he believe it? You said that standard tags aren't too deadly."

"Why won't he? It's not like he care anyway."

"Let's say that I was practicing Great Fireball." Sasuke spoke. "It's more likely than explosive tags."

Naruto shrugged and nodded in agreement. They finished cleaning up and sat down; Naruto and Sakura under the trees, Sasuke on one of the branches above them, and Rue with her back against Naruto's side, and waited.

Few minutes after ten o'clock Kakashi appeared in front of them with his eye-smile. "Hi guys."

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura screamed as she jumped to her feet. Naruto winced, standing up as well. She wasn't as loud as before, but it was true that old habits die hard.

"Maa, maa, it's not my fault. There's this man..."

"Save it," interrupted Sasuke, jumping down from the tree. "It's not like we believe you anyway."

"That's mean Sasuke." Kakashi responded in a hurt voice. "My cute little genins don't believe their sensei's words?"

"No," said all three genins in unison.

Kakashi's face fell. "Even Sakura? And here I thought that..."

"Save it." the Uchiha repeated. "What are we going to do today? Mission? Training?"

Kakashi's head shot up, his eye-smile present once again, like as if the last topic was never up. "Training! We've finished the chakra control part, now you can work on it on your own. So, I think that we can come back to teamwork, don't you think?"

'_He's taunting us!'_ Realized Naruto, looking at Kakashi, who was gazing up at the clouds, seemingly totally unaware of their glares.

Sasuke must have realized this as well, because he turned to the redhead and asked, "Naruto, where did you say that he lived?"

Kakashi's head snapped down, but this time it was their turn to pretend that they didn't see it. "Umm, on west side, near the metal merchants' district."

"So what do you think? Early wake up? Tora in the room?"

"Too normal," Sakura interjected. "How about... burning his books?"

Kakashi, already pale after the mention of the demonic cat, visibly shuddered. His hand instinctively went to his pouch, as if he wanted to protect the book that, as they knew very well, was in there. "You... y-you wouldn't... you're j-joking, right?" he laughed weakly, looking at his students warily.

"...Maybe..." Mused Naruto, looking away from Kakashi and giving the other three a small smirk. "...if you will still insist on teamwork..."

"It's just a joke!" Kakashi said quickly. "I was just joking! I know that you don't need teamwork exercises anymore! So we're leaving the books alone, right?"

"Well..."

"For now." Sasuke assured. The jounin breathed a sigh of relief.

"So what are we going to do today?" Asked Naruto.

Kakashi breathed deeply once again, regaining his composure, but he was still looking at them warily. "Today we're going to start something that we actually shouldn't, at least not before you become chunins. But because of Naruto we'll start it sooner."

"Because of me?"

"Yup. It has something to do with your sensor abilities." Naruto rose an eyebrow in question. "Tell me, do you know why Nidaime Hokage was so famous?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto shrugged. He didn't remember any lessons about that. Which, considering how many times he was thrown out of class, didn't mean much.

"What're you talking about?" Spoke questioningly Sakura. "He was intelligent, a genius strategist, a master in water chakra manipulation, and he was even able to draw moisture out of the air..."

"That's right," Kakashi interrupted. "His mastery of water chakra manipulation is well known. What isn't known so well is that was, at least partially, because of his strong water affinity."

"What does it have to do with me?" Naruto inquired.

"You see, one of the abilities that came with that was feeling all the water around him."

"You mean..."

"That's right. I think that your sensing ability is actually sensing wind, or rather air, around you," the jounin spoke.

Naruto thought about this. Now that he considered it, it made sense. He couldn't sense anything through closed windows or doors, but once open he could feel everything just fine.

"How did you find out?" he asked Kakashi. It may have made sense, but that didn't mean that he was going to believe it without any proof.

"I started to suspect this after the tree walking exercise," Kakashi replied. "When you used too much chakra the tree looked like sliced up with kunai, while normally it should look half burned, half hit with a hammer. It looked like you used wind chakra."

Naruto nodded, remembering Kakashi's confusion that day. "Do you have any way to make sure?"

The jounin nodded and drew three slips of paper. "I was thinking about giving it only to you, but I decided that it'd be unfair to you two." He gave them the slips and continued, "Pour your chakra into it. The way it will react will say what affinity you have."

"I don't need it." Sasuke remarked as the other two took their slips. "I have fire, like all Uchihas."

"Nevertheless I still want you to take it." Kakashi pressed. "Something is telling me that you'll be surprised."

Sasuke took his slip. They all looked at each other, shrugged and put their chakra in the paper.

Sakura's paper turned into dust. Sasuke's wrinkled, which clearly surprised him. Naruto's sliced in half... then each half sliced once more... and again. One part also soaked slightly. Kakashi chuckled.

"Looks like I was right, Naruto. You really had a very strong wind affinity, and it looks like you already have a second affinity; water. Sakura, I must say I'm surprised. I was sure that you'd have water, or maybe fire, considering your character, but your affinity is earth. Sasuke, your affinity is lighting, like mine."

"But I'm an Uchiha... I'm using fire jutsu..." he muttered.

"Having lighting affinity doesn't mean that you can't use fire jutsu. It just mean that lighting will be easier and more powerful for you. And I'm sure that you have heard about Uchihas with affinities other than fire."

Sasuke nodded and looked down. His face was as emotionless as always, but Naruto was pretty sure that he knew what he was thinking about right now. _'Heard... but he won't hear about them again.'_

Kakashi seemed to be unaware of a change of mood. "So, do you know your affinities' pros and cons?"

Naruto shook his head. _'Another hole in my educations caused by hateful teachers,'_ he thought. But when he felt his teammates shaking their heads as well he realized that for once he wouldn't look stupid... at least not alone.

"Well, I'd be surprised if you did." Said Kakashi. "As I said, you shouldn't have been learning that until you became chunins, so there was no point in teaching you that in the academy. Sasuke..." The Uchiha looked up. "Lighting is second in terms of offence. It's the fastest, but in term of piercing wind is a bit stronger. It also has very few defensive techniques. Sakura." This time he looked at the pinkette, who seemed rather impatient.

"...Earth is a defensive affinity. On that side it's the strongest. Your defensive techniques will be very powerful and will cost you a small amount of chakra. But it's also the slowest affinity, so any attacks will be easy to avoid, unless they're be well timed, which requires great skill, or for them to be very widespread, which means more chakra. Naruto." He turned to his third student, only to drop his head, seeing that the redhead sat again under the tree and closed his eyes. "Ehh, anyway, you have two affinities; water and wind..."

"Why does he have two affinities?" Sasuke interjected. Naruto had to stop his smirk when he heard the slight jealously in his tone.

"It happens, even if it isn't common. Affinity is like... what your body is used to." explained Kakashi. "If you continue to learn and use fire style, in time you'll develop another affinity. It won't be as powerful as your inborn one though. Naruto is just lucky that he has two." Sasuke 'hn-ed' and turned around, almost pouting. Almost. Kakashi looked at the redhead again. "Now, water affinity is the most balanced one. It's good in offense and defence, but, as all things that are good in everything, it's not best. It has less defence than earth and it isn't as good in offense as lighting or wind. Of course, a master in the water affinity is able to outclass others, but it still has a natural disadvantage. Nevertheless, it's still pretty useful. About your wind affinity..." Kakashi trailed off and scratched his head.

"Wind affinity itself is the best offensive one. You can use it to deflect incoming projectiles... or enemies. You can create small wind bullets to pierce your opponents, add your chakra to a weapon to increase its slicing properties. On the other hand wind has almost zero defensive techniques. But all this... is for normal wind users. I have no idea what you'll be able to do. Before the Nidaime nobody knew that it was possible to draw moisture out of the air. For example, you're the only person that I heard about that created wind clones. I'd really like to know how you managed to do this."

Naruto didn't respond. He actually wasn't really sure. He just remembered that he was trying to create normal clones, and was getting really irritated. Finally he just let the chakra flow freely. The next thing he saw was around twenty very fast blurs around him.

When he broke from his thoughts Kakashi was speaking. "-you were made out of the special tree that grows in the Land of Wind that reacts to chakra. That's why it's so easy to put your chakra into it and you didn't have to modify it." He looked at Sakura. "I'll give you your first jutsu when you manage to do this to a normal paper, or leaf, or something like that."

Sakura sighed and nodded, walking in Naruto's direction. Sasuke turned around to follow her, but Kakashi's voice stopped them. "Wait, not now. As I said, I shouldn't teach you this, so we are not going to train this. This exercise isn't tiring, at least not physically, it only requires concentration, so you can do it on your own after our missions. For now, we'll move on to strategy."

"How?" growled Sasuke. It was clear that he wanted to start ninjutsu training.

"I'll make up some situation and you'll think about a plan to solve the problem in it. And to give you some motivation, you're going to run ten laps around the clearing for every mistake that I find."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at him suspiciously. "Didn't you say before that every plan has some hole?"

The jounin looked at him with his eye-smile. Naruto couldn't see it, but he was sure that under his mask now lay a sadistic smirk. "Yup!" he chirped cheerfully. He waved at them. They all groaned; some loudly, some under their breath, and lined up in front of him. "Ok, let's start. Hmm... you have to delay a group of ninja from reaching a facility that your comrades are looking through. You don't know the level of your enemies' skills. You have to hold them back for twelve hours. They'll reach their destination in seven." he ended and looked at them expectantly.

They were silent for a few seconds before Sasuke asked, "Surroundings?"

Kakashi thought for a few seconds. "First five-six hours in the mountain passage, then forests of the Land of Fire. Sakura, you first."

The pinkette sighed and started talking. "Well, it's at least a B-rank mission, so they are going to be at least chunins..."

* * *

Their tor... training lasted for the next seven hours. Kakashi gave them half an hour break around one o'clock, but this didn't help too much. The jounin was mercilessly pointing out every single mistake, which ended in countless laps around the clearing. When he finally left them with a promise of continuing the next day even Naruto seemed a bit winded. Sasuke, who was leaning against one of the trees, and Sakura, who was lying on the ground, were panting as if they just run here from Iwa.

"You're... huf... talking... huf... about burning... his... huf... books, right?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto chuckled. "What, finished already? And I thought that you're the almighty Uchiha..."

"Shut... up..." muttered with laboured breaths 'the almighty Uchiha'.

When the genins caught their breath they decided to start training their affinities. So they took the paper tags that Naruto was using for his seals and... tried to figure out what the hell they were supposed to do.

It only took half an hour before their patience started running thin.

"How are we suppose to do this without any advice?" Sasuke asked, frustrated, looking angrily at her slip. "It's like asking a civilian to mold chakra without any pointers!"

Naruto shrugged and looked back at his own slip. Then he thought about her words. _'Mold... maybe that's the key, we shouldn't just pour our chakra into it, but also mold it before... hmm... that slip was cut in half... maybe I should make a line of chakra and...'_

"Fuck!" cursed Sasuke. They turned to him. He was blowing at his hands, his slip on the ground at his feet, a bit smaller than before. When Naruto looked closer he noticed that it looked burned a bit, but at the edges it was slightly coloured blue. He sighed.

"Kakashi mentioned concentration," Naruto reminded him. "I don't think that using as much power as you can is a good idea."

Sasuke glared at him. "Says someone who blasted his feet off."

Naruto didn't have a response to that.

"It's hopeless!" Sakura exploded suddenly. "We can't do this without any advi..." she trailed off. Naruto looked at her, wondering what happened, but she was already turning around and running in the direction of the village, shouting over her shoulder. "I'll be right back!"

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other. "What came over her?"

The Uchiha shrugged. "Maybe some girl stuff."

Naruto nodded and went back to his slip. _'Maybe I should make it blow, like a wind...'_

He sighed when his slip flew away.

Sakura came back around half an hour later with her nose in a book. When they called her she seemed like as if she had no idea how she got there.

"Where have you been?" Asked Sasuke.

"To get some advice," she replied cheerfully, showing them the book. It was plain, with a brown cover and the title, 'Chakra Affinities.' "I already found something for Naruto," she added, looking back into the book. "Kakashi never told us that it's so rare..."

"Huh?"

"It's said here that it's the rarest affinity. Normally there are only few for each village, apart from Suna, where are a lot of wind users. Anyway, this book said that wind chakra should be thin and sharp. You have to create something like a chakra blade with a very thin and sharp edge."

Naruto nodded and looked back at his slip. He heard Sasuke asking about his affinity, but he wasn't listening. He concentrated, thinking about Sakura's words. _'Sharp and thin...'_

After a few seconds he looked at his slip. He sighed when he saw only the smallest of slices on the bottom.

'_Guess it's not going to be easy.'_

* * *

Naruto was jumping across the roofs with Rue on his back. Thanks to Naruto's advice and pointers, and her own eagerness to learn, she was already able to use chakra, but no matter how skilful she was her body just wasn't used to using it even if she was probably able to jump a few times. It was possible to use more chakra than your body was used to, but it would strain the muscles. Sometimes it was just temporary, and healed with only a bit of rest, but other times it was permanent.

Naruto stopped on one of the roofs. He crouched down and said, "Can you wait here for a moment? I forgot to do some shopping."

Rue jumped off and signed, "I go with you. Question."

"There's no need," Naruto responded, and jumped to the next building and then down in the dark alley, and, after making sure that nobody was around, changed into a plain looking, around twenty-five years old, brown haired, brown eyed man in a normal dark green pants and a brown shirt. Then he walked out of the alley and went inside one of the shops.

Five minutes later he walked out, holding two bags. He went back to the alley, then jumped up onto the roofs and over to Rue's roof. He landed in front of the small girl and said, "Ok, I have everything. Let's go." He then noticed that she's looking at him warily. He frowned. "Oh, right, sorry. I forgot to drop it." With that he let the Henge fall. He turned around and crouched. "Hop on."

She did as she was told and they were quickly back on their way. After a few minutes they reached their destination. Naruto landed on the sill of their apartment's window, opened it, and went in. Rue jumped off his back.

"You want some rice?" Naruto asked, going into the kitchen. "I'm going to get some for myself." When she didn't answer or react in any way he turned to her. "Rue?"

She looked at him. "Why you change. Past. Question."

This Naruto was not expecting. "Emmm... that's..."

"Why we always come window. Question. You hide from someone. Question."

The redhead was about to lie, but he stopped. He sighed and kneeled on one knee in front of her. "I should've told you before anyway." he said, looking into her huge, grass green eyes. "I'm not too well liked by the villagers. Well... actually 'not too liked' aren't the right words." He chuckled nervously. "'Hated' is a more proper term. People in Konoha won't allow me to enter their shops, or will overcharge me, glare at me on the streets, they even attacked me a few times before. That's why I always travel across the rooftops, why I use Henge for shopping, and why I don't want to be seen with you." Rue's eyes widened and started to tear up, so Naruto quickly continued. "I don't want them to attack you because we're close."

He blinked. They were close. He knew that. But when did that happen?

The tears disappeared from Rue's eyes. She thought for a moment before she asked. "Why they hate you. Question."

Naruto hesitated. "It's... I..." He sighed. "I'm sorry Rue. I can't tell you, at least not now. But I can assure you that it's not my fault. I didn't do anything. It's just something that was done to me."

She looked at her feet. Naruto waited patiently, allowing her to think it through. He didn't want to tell her this, but she had to be warned if she wanted to live with him.

Rue must have notice some of his anxiety cause she reached toward him and smiled, before signing, "I stay with you. You save me and take care of me. Past. I no care about the rest."

Naruto let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding. He stood up and ruffled her hair. "Thanks, little one."

She pouted and glared at him, but it quickly turned into a bright smile. He responded with his own small smile.

"So, how about this rice?"

* * *

**Well, as you can see it's pretty much a filler. Initially I was going to put those scenes somewhere in other chapters, but then I decided to put them all together. Don't worry, the next chapter is already in making, I'm somewhere in the second half, so I should post it much faster than this one.**

**About some of the things in the chapter. Why Naruto has such strong wind affinity will be explained later. I don't want to spoil the fun. And as you can see, it's so strong that even in less than an hour he managed to do something that in canon, with the help of clones, took him few days. With time he will became incredibly fluent with it, though it has a downside. If his wind affinity is so strong that he is using wind chakra without trying, then while trying to learn some other affinity, like water, he will have twice as much work as normal shinobi.**

**His fuuinjutsu proficiency. Well, he's an Uzumaki, and son of two excellent Seal Masters, it's in his blood. This also will be part of his most prominent skills.**

**Well, that would be all, at least for now. Until next time!**


	9. 09 - Icy Welcome

**Beta corrected by ****TheGodfather93**

**Disclaimer: Look at the previous chapter...**

* * *

When they entered the office the Hokage put down some papers and looked up at Team 7.

"Hello, Hokage-sama. You summoned us?" Kakashi asked.

"Ahhh, Team 7. It's good to see you," the Hokage responded. "Yes, I did. I have a C-rank mission for you."

Naruto glanced at Sakura. He didn't notice anything, so he assumed that she was alright with it. He looked back at the Hokage, who responded to Kakashi's question.

"It's a guarding job. Tazuna, a bridge builder from the Land of Waves asked for a protection on his way back home, as well as during the building of the bridge being constructed there."

"From who?" Sasuke asked.

"Just ordinary bandits."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Protection on the way back wasn't anything strange. It was actually quite common. But 'ordinary bandits' attacking an unfinished bridge WAS strange. After all, what could they took from there? Nails and hammers?

Sakura must have thought about it too, because she asked doubtfully, "Ordinary bandits? Attacking an unfinished bridge?"

The Hokage looked at the tree genins carefully for a few seconds, before turning to Kakashi with a nod and a smile. "You were right. They are smart." He then looked back at Sakura. "We thought about this too. There is something more in it."

"Do we know what?"

The Hokage nodded. "A man named Gato is a president of the shipping company that owns every sea route from Wave to the other lands. This allows him to suffocate the whole country with huge taxes. The bridge built by our customer would allow the people from Wave to bypass it, so it's probably Gato who's trying to stop its construction."

"Shinobi activity?" Kakashi inquired.

"No," the Hokage said, lighting his pipe with a small fire technique. "According to reports Gato is using force to keep the people of Wave in line, but he's only using bandits with no chakra knowledge. But they're organised, and the building of the bridge will take some time. That's why I wanted to send you, not some untested team."

Kakashi thought about this for a while, then he looked at his students. Seeing their nods he turned back to the Hokage. "When are we moving out?"

"I'll send a message to the client to be ready at the gates in three hours. Also, Kakashi, in case of any unforeseen changes you're to..." the Hokage paused mid-sentence. He thought for a second, puffing his pipe and looking at every and each of them, "...you're free to act as you see right."

Naruto glanced at Kakashi, not quite understanding what it was all about. The jounin seemed a bit surprised, but quickly composed himself. "Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Any questions?" No one spoke up. "Then you're dismissed."

They bowed and walked out, leaving the village leader in a small cloud of smoke to his paperwork. The three genins followed their sensei through the Hokage Tower and out of it.

Once under the clear sky Kakashi, already with a nose in hi orange book, stopped and turned around. "Ok, you heard the Hokage, right? Gather your equipment and meet me at the gates in three hours. Any questions?"

"What does the Hokage meant by saying 'you're free to act as you see right'?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi looked at him, surprised. Whether it's because he didn't expect this question or any question at all, Naruto wasn't sure. "I don't think that..." Kakashi did am impression of the Hokage by stopping mid-sentence and looking at his team, "Well, I shouldn't tell you that because I don't want you to became too arrogant..."

"Yeah, arrogance is bad..." Naruto muttered, glancing at Sasuke, who didn't seem to hear him. Otherwise he'd agree with him. Right?

"...but Naruto brought this up so you two will ask anyway." He paused for a second to send Naruto a slight glare. "This mission is a high C-rank already. Depending on how much time it'll take it can even become a B-rank, if this Gato decides to hire shinobi. What the Hokage meant was that if I find you capable of completing it, I have his permission to continue."

When Kakashi didn't say anything else Naruto frowned. He figured that much himself. But... "What does that have to do with being arrogant?"

"B-rank mission, Naruto," Sakura pointed out."Missions normally reserved for chuunins."

Now he understood. It was as if the Hokage said, 'You're a chuunin level team.' Not that it meant that much. Chuunins were the most mixed shinobi group. There were some that were stronger than the occasional jounin, but the weakest were only a bit better than fresh genins.

"Great," Naruto muttered, "just what we needed. A boost to Sasuke's ego."

Sasuke growled, but before he could bite back Kakashi spoke up. They really couldn't have any good banter lately. "Maa, maa, just don't let it get to your heads. Now go, pack your gear and meet me at the gates in three hours."

Sasuke and Sakura walked away. Naruto looked up at the sky. It wasn't even noon yet. _'And I thought that it'd be a peaceful day...'_ He looked down and noticed Kakashi muttering something under his breath. He listened harder.

"...it better than I thought. Only Sakura seemed..." he trailed off and concentrated on Naruto, "What are you still doing here? You don't need to pack up? And find a babysitter for Rue?"

"I don't. She can take care of herself."

"You want to leave her alone?"

"She's more self-sufficient than Sasuke. I made sure of that." _'Nevertheless, he's probably right. I can leave her at the Ichirakus'. She doesn't have to be alone,' _he added mentally.

"Isn't she a bit too young?"

"I was younger. And I heard that you too." Kakashi blinked, clearly surprised, and opened his mouth to speak but Naruto didn't let him. "Don't even ask. I won't tell."

The jounin sighed and nodded. "I know that you took care of yourself at a young age, but she didn't go through what you did. She..."

"She went through enough," Naruto snapped. "And I will do what I can to make sure that she doesn't go through more. Teaching her how to survive was only one part."

With that he turned around and walked away, leaving the jounin with a thoughtful expression.

* * *

"He's late. Again."

Naruto didn't respond to Sakura's whines, more interested in his book.

"I had a slight hope that he wouldn't be late today."

This time he looked at her doubtfully. "Really? You sure that you're talking about Kakashi?"

"I said it was a SLIGHT hope," she said defensively. "I thought that he wouldn't force our client to wait... though out client isn't here either," she muttered, looking around.

Naruto only grunted and went back to his book.

"What are you reading?" Naruto growled. Was a bit of silence too much to ask for? But unfortunately for him Sakura seemed to be in a talkative mood, "Come on, can't you tell your cute teammate what you're reading?"

"A book."

Sasuke, who was standing a few feet on right, let out a sound that could be interpreted as a quiet snort. Or a cough. Sakura huffed. "Thank you, I'd never have guessed myself." Naruto grunted in response. "So it's a book about sealing then. You're this grumpy only when someone is interrupting you while reading those."

The redhead didn't react, but was surprised. He hadn't noticed this before, but she made a good point.

"Hey guys," said someone on their left. Before any of them could turn around they heard a loud screech.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

Sakura and Naruto saw a purple blur running by them and heard some tumbles and grunts. They looked that way only to see Ino lying on top of Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, why didn't you visit me?! I missed you!"

Naruto chuckled and grabbed Sakura's wrist, even before he felt the killing intent. She jerked and when he didn't let go she glared at him. He responded with a calm look, and when she stopped struggling he signed, "You know him. This no help her. Future." She wasn't as good in hand language as him or Rue, but she was good enough to understand what he meant.

She nodded, though it was clear that the only thing that she wanted right now was to grab Ino's ponytail and drag her through the whole village. Naruto grinned. "Also, I want to see how he'll get out of it," he added out loud.

Sakura's glare intensified, though he saw a tiny bit of amusement in her eyes. She huffed and turned to Ino's teammates. "Hi. What are you doing here?"

"We just had lunch break," said Chouji. A bit sauce on his chest confirmed his words. "We're on the way to our sensei. What about you?"

"We're waiting for Kakashi-sensei. We're going on a mission."

"Which one? Tora? Weeds?" Chouji asked, naming the most frequent, and annoying, D-ranks.

"No, it's a C-rank."

"Then where are your backpacks?" Shikamaru asked with a hint of suspicion.

Sakura drew a scroll from her pouch. "Naruto made storage seals for us, so we don't have to carry everything on our backs."

"Made?" Chouji sounded very surprised. "You can make seals? Daddy said that's very hard and complicated to do."

Naruto didn't respond. He didn't like to spill his secrets.

"Naruto?" Shikamaru tried.

"Don't bother," Sakura said, "he won't tell until he decides to. Sometimes I think that asking him only makes him wait even longer."

Naruto's lip twitched. Maybe there was a small chance that what she said was true. Maybe. And small.

They started casually chatting among themselves. After a minute Ino and a reluctant Sasuke joined them. Naruto caught something about training, Asuma-sensei and Kakashi, but he wasn't listening carefully. He was more interested in his book. Though the fact that Sakura was avoiding looking at Sasuke and that Ino was still clinging to him was quite amusing. It seemed like she was listening to Naruto's advice and avoiding the temptation to screech and start a catfight.

The book was about barriers. Rue borrowed it for him, since he couldn't do it himself because of the Kyuubi, and stealing was out of the question because the librarian was a paranoid woman who checked the books every hour. He was hoping to find a way to make a seal that would allow only specific people to enter placed. He could place such a thing around his apartment.

Around half an hour later Kakashi arrived, accompanied by an old man. The man had grey hair protruding from under a pointed hat, a matching beard, and glasses on the end of a very red nose. He wore a dark v-neck sleeveless vest, slightly lighter pants, an obi around his waist and a pair of sandals. He also had a towel over his neck, a backpack... and a bottle in hand.

Both men approached the group of genins. "You said that there're three more ninja in your team."

"And it's true," Kakashi responded. "Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, come here."

Naruto stood up and followed his teammates, standing in line in front of the adults, with his nose still stuck in his book. Tazuna looked them all, took a gulp from his bottle and grunted, "I thought that I hired some super ninja, not a bunch of brats. The pink one looks like she wouldn't stand a chance against a determined squirrel."

He rose his hand to take another gulp but stopped midway. Probably because of the glares that, Naruto was sure, Sasuke and Sakura were giving him. The redhead, for his part, just summoned a kunai and started twirling it between his fingers, his other hand still holding his book, though he averted his gaze to give Tazuna a cold look. When the old man looked at him his hand visibly shivered.

"I assure you, they're capable of protecting you," Kakashi said, unaware, or feigning unawareness, of the tension in the air. "After all, we're only protecting you from a few bandits."

With visible difficulty Tazuna turned away from Naruto's icy eyes and after a few seconds nodded to Kakashi. "R-right... just bandits," He muttered.

"Ok then, guys, do you have everything?" They all nodded. "Then let's move out."

They walked out through the gates, wordlessly taking positions around the client; Sasuke in front, Sakura and Naruto on both sides and Kakashi behind. The pinkette waved to the still watching Team 10.

The nine day long journey to the Land of Waves had begun.

* * *

Apart from one attack of around a dozen bandits, that they dispatched before Tazuna even reached the trees, which wasn't too smart, considering that the bandits came from among them, nothing interesting happened.

The whole journey was long and boring. Normally it'd take them only two days to reach Wave, maybe even only one. But because of Tazuna they had to move at a civilian's pace.

Things started to get messy on the eighth day. They were travelling through the forest, much like they were the past seven days. Naruto was in the middle of deciphering one of the seals from his book when he sensed two figures in the bush on the right side of the road. He didn't look there, he didn't react in any way. It'd only tell them that he noticed. If they decided to attack he should have enough time to warn the others. When his group was passing their hiding spot he glanced at them out of the corner of his eye. He didn't see anything.

That meant that they were shinobi.

They waited few more seconds, then went a bit deeper into the forest and shot forward, getting ahead of Team 7 and their client. When Naruto couldn't sense them anymore he coughed and signed, "Two. Watching. Bush. Past." He could make a better sentence, but Kakashi wasn't as good in sign language as they were. Everybody, apart from Tazuna, who didn't even look, nodded slightly and continued their walking, albeit much more alert.

Ten minutes later Naruto sensed them again, but before he could say anything they disappeared, sinking into the ground. He frowned and signed, "Appear. Three hundred. Foot. After. Turn. Few. Second. Disappear. Underground."

Kakashi nodded and after a quick thought responded, "Let. Attack. Find. Target."

Naruto nodded in response. There was a possibility that they weren't after Tazuna. Kakashi had quite a reputation, someone could've also been trying to kidnap Sasuke or Naruto. The last Uchiha and a Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi outside of Konoha with only one jounin as a protection, no matter how strong, was a rather appealing target.

It took them another two minutes to reach the place where Naruto sensed them last time. He discreetly looked around. At the time they were on the very edge of his senses so he wasn't entirely sure, but he guessed that they disappeared somewhere around the puddle on the... _'Puddle? It hadn't rained since last week...'_

He looked at his companions. Tazuna was muttering something under his breath, totally unaware. He couldn't see Sasuke's face, so he had no idea about what he was thinking. Sakura was looking normal, though he noticed her observing their surroundings. Lastly he glanced at Kakashi. The jounin noticed his look and gave him his eye-smile, moving his head slightly to the right.

They passed the puddle and moved further. Naruto was starting to think that they saw their tensed postures, but then everything went to hell.

Two dark blurs, connected by something, jumped out of the puddle and rushed at Kakashi. This 'something' wrapped around the jounin three times and tightened, cutting him into pieces.

"One down," said the man on the left. He had long black hair and a Kiri hitai-ate on his forehead. He was wearing a dark cloak with some kind of blue and grey camo shirt underneath and black pants. He also had a huge metal claw on his left hand. It was linked by some kind of chain with blades, like it was made out of shurikens, to a claw on the right hand of the other man. He was very similar to his partner in terms of appearance, only he seemed somewhat lighter.

"Now the target," said the one on the right. With that they both charged at Tazuna, who screamed and backed away a bit, but before they could reach him Sakura jumped in front of the old man and threw few shurikens at them. They moved their clawed hands to deflect them, but a sudden jerk on the chain stopped them. They turned around, only to see that a kunai pinned the chain to a three. The one on the left quickly composed himself, detaching the chain and deflecting Sakura's shurikens. The other one didn't have such luck. In the next second Sasuke and Naruto were on their necks.

The Uzumaki attacked his opponent quickly and furiously, not giving him any time to think. The speed he showed deflecting Sakura's projectiles told him that he wasn't some pushover, so he wanted to beat him while he still was a bit distracted. They exchanged a few blows. Naruto was mostly evading, adding blows only to keep the Kiri nin on his toes, waiting for an opening. And he found one.

When his enemy slashed at him with his clawed hand, Naruto ducked underneath it. The dark-haired ninja saw what he was planning and attacked him with his bare hand. Naruto rose his left arm to block it, summoning a kunai in a reverse grip. The result was the Kirin stabbing himself in the wrist.

He screamed and jumped back, trying to gain some distance from the redhead. Naruto didn't let him. He threw the kunai at his head and rushed after him. His enemy barely deflected it with his claw, in the same time obscuring his own sight. When he lowered it, it was too late to do anything. Naruto summoned another kunai and stabbed him in the chest.

Naruto jumped back, avoiding a clumsy claw swipe. The Kiri nin's eyes widened. He choked, made a step in the redhead's direction, and fell on his face. The kunai was pushed deeper, spearing him clean through the body with the tip coming out of his back. Naruto gave himself a second to calm down, then looked at the second enemy. He was fighting with Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto sighed inwardly. She was impossible. Even in the middle of fight!

He looked closer. It seemed like they were equal. He was about to join in when Sasuke, ignoring the claw that was slashing at him, jumped, blocking the other hand. Before the claw reached him it met Sakura's kunai... and the Uchiha's knee met Kiri nin's face. He fell on his back, knocked out.

After taking a few seconds to make sure that he was unconscious, Sakura jumped to the shell-shocked Tazuna and took a defensive stance in front of him. Sasuke was looking around, with one eye on the downed Kiri nins.

Naruto closed his eyes. "Clear," he said aloud. Sakura released her breath. Their hands fell, stances relaxed.

"Everyone alright?" asked the pinkette, "Nobody wounded? I think I saw poison on their claws."

Naruto checked himself to make sure, but he wasn't worried. At least not much. Thanks to the Kyuubi most of the poisons weren't fatal for him. Though being poisoned wasn't a nice feeling either.

He looked at the pieces of the cut log in the middle of the road and scowled. "Kakashi, stop hiding and get your lazy ass out here."

"Don't say that Naruto," came a hurt voice. The silver-haired jounin came out of the forest in the exact place where the redhead was looking. "I wasn't hiding. It's just that when I saw my cute little genins' display I was too amazed and proud to even move."

Naruto snorted. He wanted to say how amazed by HIS display he was, but Tazuna seemed to finally snap out of his daze, "Is... is h-he dead?" he stammered.

They all looked at the Kiri nin that Naruto was fighting with. Dull eyes, mouth open in a soundless scream, a pool of blood underneath him slowly getting bigger. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Yea..." he muttered quietly. The emptiness that he felt after every kill was surfacing again, "And what were you expecting?" he suddenly snapped, glaring at the builder with anger that even he wasn't sure where it came from. "You thought that we'd only give a few thugs a little spanking and then Gato will leave you?"

"I... it's not like..." Tazuna's head snapped, looking at them with wide eyes. "You know about..."

"...the stupid, arrogant shrimp that wants to hang your head on the wall because your bridge is going to destroy his little raft empire?" Naruto interrupted. "Yes we know."

"Maa, maa, Naruto, you don't have to be so harsh," Kakashi remarked in his normal, lazy tone. He looked somewhere behind Naruto and then at Tazuna. "I'm sure that Tazuna-san will tell us everything himself, isn't that right Tazuna-san? For example, why did you lie to us?"

While looking at and talking to Naruto their client seemed more and more scared, but for some reason it was Kakashi's calm tone and eye-smile that made him shudder and start talking, stumbling and stuttering.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked quietly while Kakashi was inte... talking nicely with Tazuna. The redhead turned around, surprised that he didn't notice her or Sasuke, who was at her side, coming towards him. "Naruto, are you alright?"

"Why?" he growled at her.

"Maybe because you, the calmest and quietest person on our team, almost started yelling at our client?" Sasuke pointed out.

"You know that if something is wrong you can tell us, right?"

Naruto looked down, not really sure of himself. He didn't notice it before, but he really was angry. Almost enraged. And nervous. Because he had just killed? It wasn't his first kill...

He closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. He looked up at his teammates who were observing him carefully. "I'm okay..." He paused and quietly added, "Thanks."

He looked back at the adults. Kakashi seemed to be deep in thought, while Tazuna was looking at him with a mixture of nervousness, fear and anxiety. "Something wrong?" Naruto asked when he, Sasuke and Sakura came closer. He noticed that Tazuna trembled a bit when their eyes met.

"Well, I'm wondering if we should continue the mission," Kakashi said, turning to them.

"But... didn't Hokage-sama say..." Sakura started.

"Yes, but..."

"You think that we're not ready?" Sasuke growled with a scowl.

"No, you've just shown me that you're more than ready. But both Hokage-sama and I were thinking about the end of the mission. We never considered it becoming a B-rank at the very beginning."

Naruto realized that everything depended on time. If the mission took over a month they wouldn't be able to predict anything. By that time Gato would be able to summon half of Iwa for all they knew. But if they completed the bridge soon there was a chance he wouldn't even notice them.

"How long will it take to complete the bridge?" Naruto asked, interrupting Sasuke and Kakashi's arguing. It took a few seconds for Tazuna to realize that the question was directed at him.

"Ummm... it's... it's hard to say. With enough people I would be able to complete it in a week. Maybe even less if they were working hard while I was away. But now..." he trailed off, "people are scared. Gato already beat a few... and worse."

"Can you tell how long it will take then?"

Tazuna shrugged. "I don't know... with what I had when I was leaving I'd say... about three weeks."

Naruto thought for a bit. "Does Gato have spies in your village?"

"I'd like to say that there isn't anybody like that, but... a few people are helping him out of fear and greed..."

"Naruto, you have something in mind?" Sakura asked.

The redhead looked at his team. They were all looking at him expectantly. "These two," he pointed at the Kiri nins, "were watching the road. That means that they didn't know when you were coming back," he looked at Tazuna.

"Which means that if we keep a low profile Gato shouldn't expect anything," Kakashi commented, understanding Naruto's trail of thoughts, "And when he finally learns that Tazuna is home, with us as protection, and that those two are out, it'd be too late. But..."

"Come on, Kakashi," interrupted Sasuke in an irritated voice, "you just said that if we keep quiet it should be ok."

"It should be, but it's all considering that we will keep quiet, that they..." he also pointed at the bodies, "weren't suppose to report back regularly, or that there are no more shinobi on Gato's side." He sighed. They were all waiting for his decision. "What do you think guys? Remember that we can get ourselves into some serious trouble."

"I'm in. I want to test myself," Sasuke said.

Sakura was looking down, fidgeting a bit. "I don't know... I'm not really sure..." She looked at Sasuke, and then at Naruto, who gave her a nod. Her look hardened. "I'm in."

They all looked at Naruto. The redhead just shrugged and started walking towards Wave. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," Kakashi stated. He turned to the others. "Go after him. I'll clean up here."

* * *

"Woaaah, it's...!"

"Shhh," hissed Tazuna, while Naruto clamped his hand over Sakura's mouth.

"Sorry," muttered Sakura with embarrassment when Naruto took his hand away. "I was just surprised."

"While I understand why," Kakashi spoke, "there's a reason why we've waited for the mist to rise."

Naruto could understand her too. While he didn't react in such an outburst he also was surprised by the size of this huge bridge. It was at least a hundred feet wide, and as for its length Naruto had no idea. He didn't know the exact width of the canal between Land of Fire and Wave. Needless to say, he couldn't see, or feel, the ends. It was one hell of a bridge.

Ten minutes later they reached the shore. While Tazuna was telling their haulier something about staying low Kakashi turned to his students. "Ok guys, from now on I want you on full alert, especially you Naruto. We have to make sure that nobody notices us, otherwise we can already start preparing a welcome for a team from Kiri or Kumo."

They nodded and continued their journey towards Tazuna's home. The builder guided them off the main road and through the forest. They were travelling in the standard diamond formation. Normally in such case only one of them would stay with the client while the others would take to the trees to cover more ground, but Naruto's sensing ability made up for that, so they decided to stay together for better communication.

Naruto was half-heartedly listening to Tazuna's rambling about the Land of Waves' history when he sensed someone. "Two figures, behind us, catching up through the trees," he said, interrupting their client's story. "One taller, I think he has a huge cleaver sword on his back, second smaller, around our height."

"Let's scatter," Kakashi said after a quick thought. "Sakura, take Tazuna to his house, make sure that nobody sees him. There is still a chance that those two aren't after him. And leave a clone," he added when they were about to move. "We'll try to trap them. Sasuke, Naruto, make clones as well and hide in the bush." He put his hands in a cross-shaped handseal. "Shadow Clone Technique."

A close appeared next to him that immediately changed into Tazuna. Along with the standard clones of the genins and jounin he began very slow walk towards their client's house. Naruto watched it, moving alongside them through the bush. He could sense Kakashi hiding behind the tree a bit further and Sasuke standing on the branch, hidden by the leaves.

He could also sense two figures closing in very quickly. They caught up with the clones team in half a minute. They had to have heard something because they stopped just out of the sight. They turned to each other, probably discussing strategy, then separated. The taller one fell to the ground and started sneaking through the bush with a hand on the hilt of his huge sword, while the smaller one jumped a few branches forward and stopped, still keeping out of sight.

Naruto stopped and waited until the one on the ground came into view. He saw a tall man with black hair and a hitai-ate tied around his head, pointing sideways so Naruto couldn't see it, and bandages that covered his neck and the lower half of his face. A strap across his bare chest was supporting a huge broadsword on his back, its hilt, as long as a third of the blade, was pointing over his right shoulder. He wore blue stripped pants and brown and white warmers on his arms and shins. He had no kunai pouch.

Naruto waited until the foreign ninja passed him and then followed quietly. When he saw the group of clones the man stopped and made a handseal. Water that covered the ground and leaves around him gathered and turned into two clones. One, along with the original, moved forward, each on one side of the road. The second clone stayed in place, not moving even an inch.

'_Emergency,' _realized Naruto, _'for substitution.'_ He grinned. Without a clone the ninja wouldn't be able to escape. He'd probably change places with a log or something instead, but the second of surprise may be the one that they'd need.

With that in mind Naruto started sneaking through the bush in the clone's direction, making sure that he was out of sight of the second stranger who was still hiding on the trees. When he was ten feet from the clone Naruto held his breath. He came closer, summoning a kunai and raising it to face level. Just three more steps...

Two steps...

One...

The stabbed clone deformed, water splashed silently on the ground. Naruto looked at the sinking moisture. _'Wow, I really thought that something would happen... that he'd attack me or alarm the others... that was so... anticlimactic...'_

He snapped out of his thoughts when he sensed that the clones were attacked. Naruto rushed in their direction, stopping under the branch occupied by the second figure. In front he saw that the enemy ninja was standing on the path in front of the false Team 7, who were now lifting themselves up from the ground.

"Well, look who we have here," the Kiri ninja remarked mockingly. Or rather, the missing Kiri ninja, judging from the slash on his hitai-ate. "Konoha Copy Nin, Hatake 'Sharingan' Kakashi."

"Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist, A-ranked missing nin from Kiri."

"Oh, you've done your homework? Shame that it won't help you." Zabuza lifted his sword from his shoulder. "S-rank or not, you won't be able to fight me and protect the others at the same time."

Kakashi's clone jumped in front of the others. "I won't let you lay a finger on them."

Despite the bandages Naruto saw Zabuza's grin, "Oh, you won't?"

The redhead sensed his clone moving on the right side of the road. _'Wait! The clone was on the left side!' _he suddenly realized.

"Well, unfortunately it's already too late!" Zabuza shouted as his clone jumped out of the bush and slashed at Team 7's clones. Tazuna, Kakashi and the genins disappeared, leaving a surprised Kiri nin.

In that same moment Kakashi jumped at the Zabuza that was talking while Sasuke lunged at the other. Kakashi didn't have any problems with stabbing his enemy in the throat. Unfortunately Sasuke didn't have such luck. His opponent blocked the hail of kunais and shurikens that Uchiha send toward him and then grabbed his fist and tossed him away.

"Oh, so it was a trap?" Zabuza inquired, looking at Kakashi who stood next to a small puddle. Then he glanced at Sasuke, who picked himself up from the ground. "And you even let your genin stay, huh? Where are your teammates, brat? They're shitting themselves in some hiding spot?" Naruto felt a wave of killing intent. It didn't affect him; it wasn't directed at him and even then he had felt something similar many times in Konoha, but Sasuke was a different story. He didn't freeze, but his eyes went wide and his hands started shaking.

"Oh, the little genin is scared?" Zabuza mocked. "Pathetic. In your age I already had blood on my hands," he added with a scoff.

"Stay out of it, Sasuke," Kakashi warned, drawing a kunai. "He's way out of your league."

"And you think you are?" asked the Kiri nin with a hint of threat in his voice, raising his left, empty hand. "Well, let's find out then, shall we?" He made a handseal. "Mist Village Technique."

Thick mist started to rise around him and when it hid him from their sight it spread around, covering their surroundings. Once it covered him Naruto wasn't able to see anything further than three feet away. But sight wasn't his only sense. He couldn't hear anything – the mist was muffling sound too – but he didn't have any problems sensing Sasuke and Kakashi, who were now standing back to back, or...

Naruto jumped away, avoiding a huge cleaver that slashed the area he was crouching at a second ago. He pushed off the tree, changing the direction of his jump and landing on the other side of the path. _'He must have seen me when he was talking with Kakashi,' _thought Naruto, sneaking back towards his teammates.

He didn't make it even five steps before he had to roll to the side to once again to evade Zabuza's blade. '_How?' _the redhead wondered, backpedalling and swinging an arm, simultaneously summoning kunais in such a way that, using the momentum of his arm's movement, allowed him to throw thirteen kunais in one swing, _'He couldn't have seen me through the mist, and I didn't make a sound, so even without the mist he shouldn't hear me. There's no way he can detect me... unless...' _His eyes widened when realization struck him. The mist! It wasn't only concealing their vision, it was a sensory jutsu as well!

Knowing that he now knew his next target; getting rid of the mist.

Naruto jumped, once again avoiding Zabuza's sword, this time even feeling its flat side brushing against his shoulder. He quickly made three handseals, gathering and compressing air and chakra in the palm of his hand. Upon landing he thrust downward, releasing it.

'_Wind Style: Gale Palm,'_ he thought. Kakashi gave him this technique after he completed the leaf exercise, greatly shocking the jounin when he learnt it in just eight days. Which was probably a world record, considering that, according to Kakashi, normally it took weeks, and even months.

The result of his technique was a huge gust of wind that hit the ground and spread out in every direction, driving the mist away. Naruto caught a glimpse of Sasuke at the corner of his eye... and saw Zabuza just in front of himself. His body reacted on its own, bending his knees to jump away, even when he already knew that it was too late. The blade was already flying in his direction and he didn't have time to even raise a hand.

The young Uzumaki didn't close his eyes. He didn't even blink. Still, despite this, everything he saw was a blur before a loud clank echoed through the forest.

"I won't let you hurt any of my students," Kakashi growled, blocking the huge sword with a kunai.

"Oh? You sure I didn't hurt them already?" Zabuza asked mockingly. "That little girl of yours isn't here. How are you going to protect her from a distance?"

"And how do you know that she isn't hiding somewhere nearby?"

"The mist, Kakashi," Naruto spoke. "It's a sensory jutsu."

Zabuza looked at him with interest. "Well, aren't you an interesting kid?"

"Please, don't look at me like that. It's creepy. Especially since your companion..." Naruto pointed at the trees behind Kakashi, "...also looks like a kid."

This time Zabuza was clearly surprised. He warily eyed Naruto, who just realized that it wasn't the best idea to say that. Firstly, Zabuza could realize that he was a sensor. Secondly, they could have placed a trap for them. But no matter, it was too late to worry about it now.

Kakashi took advantage of this surprise and slashed at Zabuza, but his enemy managed to jump away. Immediately at his side appeared another figure. Judging by the hair and posture it was a girl, wearing a Kiri ANBU mask with red markings, a green haori, a brown sash, and matching pants.

"Haku..."

"My apologies, Zabuza-sama." Her voice was soft and gentle. "I allowed them to notice me. I..."

"We'll talk about this later," Zabuza interrupted, sending her a somewhat angry, disapproving look, though it held something more, something that Naruto couldn't quite pinpoint. "For now I want you to take out those two while I take care of Kakashi."

"As you wish, Zabuza-sama." The masked girl pulled a few senbons from somewhere.

"Watch out guys," Kakashi whispered. "Gauge her level first. If you find her too strong to take, just try to hold on until I defeat Zabuza and come to help you."

"And if we defeat her first?" Sasuke asked.

"Then stay out of..." he paused and turned a bit, looking at them out of the corner of his one eye, "...out of his range and help me from the distance. He's too dangerous for-"

"You think you have time for lessons?" Zabuza yelled, his sword already swinging at Kakashi. They scattered. The jounin jumped to the right, deeper into the forest, with the Kiri missing nin hot on his heels, while Sasuke and Naruto jumped to the left, landing in a small clearing.

Not a moment later they had to dodge once again, this time from a hail of senbons that came flying their way. They stopped on the other side of the clearing, carefully eyeing the masked girl, who stood on the other side.

"Is there a way to avoid this fight?" she suddenly asked.

Naruto blinked, surprised. "Sure, if you stand aside and let us help our sensei."

Haku shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't allow you to interfere in Zabuza-sama's fight." She drew a few more senbons. "I'm really sorry. I don't want to kill you, but Zabuza-sama ordered me to. I'm just his tool after all."

They all froze, waiting for the other side's move. "Remember what Kakashi said," Naruto whispered, "first gauge her skills."

"She surely has a good aim."

"Huh?"

"She's using senbons. Even one of those can kill you if you take a hit in the right place, but without good accuracy they aren't too... killable."

Despite the situation Naruto grinned. "Killable?"

"Shut up." Sasuke growled.

Before they could say anything else they had to jump away to avoid another hail of senbons. They scattered, waving through another several more waves of the projectile. Naruto had to admit, she really did have a good eye. And fast hands.

Sasuke ran at her, evading most of the senbons sent at him. When he came closer she stopped her steel rain and engaged him in hand-to-hand combat. They traded few punches, which quickly showed that she was just a bit faster. The Uchiha was holding his own, but she was gradually getting an advantage.

Seeing this Naruto threw few kunais and, when she jumped back, attacked her himself. She stopped his kick to the side and blocked a fist to the face, before countering with a sweeping kick. Naruto jumped over it and concentrated on defence. He weaved through her attacks, counterattacking here and there, but couldn't find a way to break her guard.

Naruto sensed Sasuke start making some handseals. He waited until the Uchiha brought his hands to the mouth, lashed with a sweeping kick at Haku and, using her arm as leverage, jumped away, just in time for a huge fireball to fly past him. He landed nearby, with Sasuke quickly joining him.

"Did I get her?"

"I don't think so. I didn't sense her jump away, but I saw her making some handseals."

They waited with their guard up, watching the slowly dying flames. Naruto's abilities weren't at use here. His feeling around the fireball was at best fuzzy. He couldn't sense her around though, so she didn't jump away or use substitution.

In the back of his mind he noticed two figures moving just at the edge of his senses, which meant that Kakashi was still fighting.

The fire died and Naruto cursed inwardly, seeing a wall of water in its place. He could faintly see someone moving behind it. In the next second the water rose in the air, flying over the two boys and separating into dozens of long, spiky shapes.

"Ice Style: Thousand Flying Ice Needles of Death," Naruto heard from where Haku stood.

'_Very original,' _he thought sarcastically and almost burst out laughing. Here he was, watching as the water over him turned into ice and rushed at them to deliver a painful, but quick death, and he was thinking about a jutsu's poor name. Composing himself he quickly used a substitution.

From the safety of a dense forest he watched the icy spikes piercing the earth and two logs. He sensed Sasuke appearing a bit to his right and sneaking in his direction.

"Great. Just what we needed. Kekkei Genkai." Sasuke turned to him with a slightly widened eyes. Naruto resisted the urge to smirk. "Oh, sorry, I didn't scare you, did I?"

The Uchiha scowled. "Hn. You hit your head or something? You're having delusions."

Naruto grinned, but decided that this wasn't the right time for banter. He turned to their enemy, just in time to notice a mist that started to gather around her.

"If it reaches us she will find us," Sasuke commented.

"Yeah. We have to do something before that happens." The mist was gathering and spreading slower than when Zabuza summoned it, but they still didn't have much time.

"You think we could sneak out and go help Kakashi?" Sasuke asked.

"Probably. But once she realizes that we aren't here she'll go to Zabuza as well. And thanks to that damn mist it won't be long."

"She'll sense if we attack from the distance, right?"

Naruto nodded. He knew what Sasuke had in mind. The mist was also obscuring Haku's sight, so an attack from distance was tempting, but because of its sensory properties it was also pointless.

"Attack her from here," Naruto spoke. "I'll drive the mist away. If we time it right she won't be able to notice anything."

Sasuke nodded and they both started making handseals. Naruto finished first and once again used Gale Palm. Sasuke finished a second later, stopping, drawing a few kunais and shurikens, and throwing them. "Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" He spat out few small fireballs, each one engulfing one of his projectiles. They shot out after the retreating line of the mist.

Probably sensing the disappearing mist Haku turned in their direction, but when she finally noticed the attack she only had time to rise hands in defence. A cry of pain flew through the forest when two flaming shurikens stuck her in the right arm, one kunai in the left hip and a few more scratched her sides, leaving burns.

Sasuke and Naruto were already on the move, rushing to take advantage of the situation, but had to jump away, once again avoiding the ice spikes that flew from the sky. Backpedalling, Naruto noticed that Haku started making one-handed seals.

'_Not good. This is going to be a well trained technique.'_

"Ice Style: Demonic Mirroric Ice Crystals Technique."

The ice spikes melted and the water from them, along with what was gathered around, rose and surrounded two Konoha genins, trapping them in a dome of square shaped water plates, that froze in the next second, creating something that resembled an incomplete mirror room.

"I didn't want to use this," Haku spoke as she came closer and put one hand on the outside of the mirror, "but Zabuza-sama ordered me to take care of you." She seemed to enter the mirror. Each plate flashed as if reflecting the sun and then an image of the girl appeared in every single one of them. "I ask you again, will you surrender? I don't want to kill you."

"If you don't like killing then why are you doing this?" Naruto inquired.

"Because it's Zabuza-sama's order."

"You're going to kill only because he said so?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"We're shinobi. We kill when we're ordered to. We're just tools. Weapons to be used by others. My only purpose is to help him achieve his dreams."

"Weapons, huh..." Naruto spoke in a dull voice, looking down at his feet. "A shining kunai drawn from the pouch when needed, that should stay hidden, shouldn't even exist in the time of peace, right?"

Haku was silent for a moment. "All shinobi are just weapons, drawn from their sheaths in the time of need."

Naruto looked up and opened his mouth, but a loud explosion on the right interrupted him. He concentrated, noticing that Zabuza and Kakashi had brought their fight closer.

"We don't have much time," Haku commented. "Will you surrender?"

"Hn. Why don't you surrender? You said yourself that you don't like killing."

"Because I don't," Haku stated as every image drew a few senbons. "But for Zabuza-sama I will kill my kind heart and become a true shinobi."

With that every single Haku threw the senbons. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw, and felt, dozens of senbons flying towards him and Sasuke. He quickly jumped away, but just as he did so more senbons were sent his way. With a wide swing of an arm he send his own hail of kunais, and jumped towards the edge of the dome. However, he was sent flying back towards the middle when a few punches connected with his face and torso, so fast that he didn't even see them. He quickly stood up, blocking as many senbons as he could with a kunai held in a reverse-grip. But he couldn't block them all.

Sasuke landed right next to him, standing back to back with Naruto.

"Any ideas?"

"Hn. We have to get out of here."

Naruto would normally facepalm, but right now his hands were a bit preoccupied. "Something more useful?"

The Uchiha growled. "Burn the ice."

Naruto shrugged, deciding not to point out that it was technically impossible. When he found a small break in the endless rain of steel he pushed chakra into the seal on his glove and threw four summoned kunais, with tags attached to them, at the mirrors.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Naruto felt the heat on his back and sensed a hole in the air behind him, at the same time watching his explosive tags engulf three mirrors in a white-hot blazing inferno. The rain of senbons stopped, allowing them to observe their handiwork.

The only problem was, there wasn't much to look at. When the flames died Naruto saw the same ice mirrors, only with slightly melted edges, which were quickly repaired. He looked behind, just to see that Sasuke didn't make it any better.

"Now you see that this is pointless," said Haku. Naruto frowned. Was it only his imagination or did she sound a bit winded? "Will you surrender?"

Sasuke growled. "I'm an Uchiha! I'm won't surrender to anyone!"

"So be it." A second later they had to once again deflect a rain of senbons.

"Sasuke," began Naruto, blocking three senbons that he saw on left and four that he sensed coming from above, "you shouldn't provoke an enemy when you're trying to find a way to get out of their trap."

Sasuke might have shrugged, but it might have been a movement connected to the deflecting of more senbons. Naruto wasn't sure. "You alright back there?"

"You're starting to scare me. Once again you're showing concern," Naruto grinned, hearing grunts and growls from behind. "I'm fine. My left leg is starting to feel a bit numb, so she must have hit something important, but otherwise I'm fine. What about you?"

"Fine. It's becoming more and more easier to see the senbons, even if I can't always keep up with it."

Naruto looked behind, blocking the senbons using only his sixth sense... witch was actually easier. "Sasuke, look at me."

The Uchiha glanced at him from the corner of a crimson eye. "What?"

Naruto smirked. "Nothing. Just, congratulations for unlocking your sharingan."

Naruto noticed the surprised, and then pleased look on Sasuke's face, but there was something else that caught his attention. Under the mirrors in front of the Uchiha he saw a large puddle. He looked up, taking a closer look at the mirrors, but the hope that the jutsu was collapsing died when he saw that they were still intact, their edges sharp as ever.

But if jutsu wasn't falling, then where did the water come from? Naruto turned around to look at the mirrors that he attacked. There were also puddles under them...

Suddenly it clicked.

"Sasuke," muttered Naruto, "attack the mirrors."

"What for? It hasn't worked before."

"It's not that we haven't done anything. It's just that she repaired them before we could see anything," the redhead exclaimed. "And judging from the tired tone from before I think that it wasn't easy. This jutsu probably takes a lot of chakra."

"Are you sure?"

"No. But do you have a better idea?"

Hearing only a grunt, Naruto assumed that he had agreed to the plan. He concentrated on the senbons, looking for a hole in the attack.

A while later he noticed that every senbon that was now in the air was sent towards one place. Sasuke must have noticed it too, because they both jumped away at the same time. Naruto started throwing tagged kunais; a few at the surrounding mirrors and a few, with a short trigger, at the coming senbons in order to blow them away. Then he followed Sasuke in making handseals.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

'_Wind Style: Gale Palm.'_

Naruto thrust his hand after Sasuke's fireball, slightly smaller than the first one, sending a gust of wind to fuel it. At the same time he felt a sharp pain in every part of his body, aside from the left arm, in which he lost feeling completely. He glanced at it, but he had no idea which one of the many senbons caused the numbness.

A flash from the side caught his attention. The senbons stopped coming as they all watched how Sasuke's fireball, now much bigger and white-hot, hit the mirrors, engulfing at least a third of the dome in a blazing inferno.

Eventually the fire died, revealing that it had destroyed the mirrors, leaving only small, melted leftovers at the edges of the fireball. Without waiting both Naruto and Sasuke bolted through the hole, jumping out of the dome.

"Be careful," the redhead warned, "she can't catch us again in..."

He stopped, seeing one of the mirrors falling and shattering upon contact with the earth. Then the second mirror fell, then the third, and soon the whole dome collapsed. Haku was standing in the middle of the ice circle that covered the ground, swaying on her feet and breathing heavily.

"She's finally reached her limit," muttered Sasuke.

Naruto looked at his left arm. It was quite a strange feeling. He could feel it thanks to his sensory ability, at least the outside of it, but he couldn't move it or feel anything inside. Shrugging it off he grabbed three senbons which, if he remembered correctly, were embedded somewhere around a nerve plexus.

"Wait, don't..." started Sasuke, but it was too late.

'_That was a bad idea,' _Naruto thought, wincing. The moment he pulled the senbons out along with feeling came a startling pain, both from the other senbons and from the inside of the arm, almost as if every nerve in his arm was made to scream.

"Idiot. You could have maimed your hand permanently."

"Yeah... I thought about it a second later." Naruto would scratch the back of his head, but his left arm was kind of busy with aching. "Let's go. Kakashi's still fighting, maybe we could help him."

"Wait," Haku spoke. They both looked at her. "I won't... let you interfere... with Zabuza-sama's... fight," she said, still breathing heavily.

"Don't," Naruto turned to her. "You're barely standing."

The girl stood straight. The stumbling stopped, but her knees were still shaking slightly. "Zabuza-sama ordered me... to stop you," she muttered, drawing a few senbons. "I can't let you go."

She threw the senbons at them and rushed after her projectiles. They both sidestepped them and she then attacked Sasuke. She was still fast, but this time it was the Uchiha who was gaining an advantage. He blocked two of her punches, deflected a kick to the side, and responded with three punches of his own. Haku managed to block two of them, but the third hit her straight in the face, shattering her mask and sending her to the ground. She quickly rolled and stood up.

At that moment Naruto attacked, slashing at her with a kunai. She drew a senbon from somewhere and blocked it. "Don't," Naruto repeated, looking into her big, beautiful, dark brown eyes and no less beautiful face. "You're not the only one that doesn't like killing."

Her eyes widened in, if Naruto was correct, realization. He quickly pushed her back and concentrated on his sixth sense, expecting some kind of attack, but nothing came. That meant that she found something in his words. But what?

Whatever it was, Naruto didn't want to give her time to think about it. So he attacked.

He stabbed at her heart. He was expecting that she would try to deflect it, which would leave her open for a blow with his other hand, or block it, in which case he would overpower her.

But she surprised him.

She lowered her arms.

When Naruto realized what she was doing he tried to stop, but it was too late. She gasped in pain when the kunai sank into her body, but her eyes weren't showing any pain or accusation. He saw gratefulness.

He watched her as she made a step back. Then another. And then she fell, still with the kunai sticking out of her shoulder.

"Why?" he asked quietly after a few seconds, walking closer. Her eyes, that until now were looking up at the clear sky, turned to him, still with that damned, grateful look in them.

"I failed... Zabuza-sama," she said, her voice barely a whisper... but there was no blood, which meant that he missed her lung. "I don't have... any reason to live... anymore."

"That's it?" Naruto asked, feeling anger building inside. "You give up? Just because something bad happened? Without even trying to fix it?"

Nobody could say anything else because of the loud explosion from the forest. Naruto turned to the source and saw Zabuza jumping through the bush, followed by Kakashi. The missing-nin had burn marks on his left arm and shoulder, along with a small, but judging by the amount of blood, deep cut on his left leg. Konoha's jounin looked only a bit better; he had a long cut from his left shoulder to his right hip, a nasty bruise on his left temple, a tattered left sleeve, and a right one soaked in blood. They weren't sleeping there.

Naruto jumped back, away from the approaching Zabuza. He may have been tired and wounded, but the missing nin still was out of his league.

"Haku, get up," he commanded, standing in a defensive position between her and the three Konoha shinobi. The girl didn't respond. "Haku, we have to get out of here." Still nothing. She had to have lost consciousness. Zabuza turned around. "Damn brat," he cursed. His hand moved, as if he was throwing something on the ground.

"Flash!" Kakashi shouted. Naruto didn't manage to close his eyes. The flash of powerful white light blinded him, sending a jolt of pain through his eyes. But even blinded Naruto still had other senses. He felt Kakashi standing in a defensive position in front of him and Sasuke, who was groaning silently, holding his eyes. Kakashi's move was pointless though, because Zabuza was already jumping away with Haku in his arms. By the time Naruto could see again, at least a bit, they were already out of his sensory range.

"You okay, boys?" Kakashi asked.

"Damn, it hurts," groaned Sasuke, still holding his eyes.

Kakashi sighed, covering his left eye with his hitai-ate, "You unlocked your sharingan, right?" he asked. "It's one of its weak points. You have better sight, so everything that hurts your eyes hits you harder."

Sasuke lowered his hands and tried to open his eyes, but quickly closed them with a hiss."Go. I'll catch up in a moment. Follow them."

"They are already too far, " remarked Naruto. "I wouldn't catch them. And even if I did, what do you want me to do? Fight? If he kept up with Kakashi then I'm no match for Zabuza, even wounded and tired."

"But if Kakashi..."

"Zabuza isn't the only one tired and wounded," the jounin pointed out.

"And we both look like pincushions," added Naruto.

Sasuke growled, trying to clear his vision. "So what now?"

"Let's go to Tazuna-san's house," Kakashi said. "We have to rest and take care of our wounds. Those senbons really did a number on you guys."

* * *

**Ufffff... my longest chapter as of yet. Almost 10k words...**

**Wave arc. It's hard to write it actually. Without adding new characters it's really hard to make it original, and I don't want to add them just on a whim, without any reason. But I decided to write it anyway, cause it's a good occasion to show Naruto's mind state, his opinions and a bit of his past. A bit.**

**And I promise to do what I can to make this arc interesting. It won't be just another Wave mission with a bit less useless Naruto.**

**The fact that they found this mission fishy? Well, if I, having 13 years, thought that it's strange that bandits are attacking a bridge, than how is it possible that Hokage, Kakashi or someone else hadn't thought about this? Come on, deception appears in every single part of their lives, it's their job to look for such things!**

**And before you ask, this story is wrote from Naruto's POV. I'm writing what he sees, feels, hears. So, for example, if I wrote that Haku is a girl, I mean that she/he looks like a girl, that Naruto sees him/her as one.**

**Well, that should be all. I really hope for your insight about the fight scene, guys.**

**Until next time!**


	10. 10 - Damn Conscience

**Disclaimer: I'm tired of writing it, look at the previous chapter.**

* * *

"What the hell is that?"

Naruto looked towards the same direction as Sasuke. They were following Sakura's and Tazuna's tracks on the outskirts of the village. When he looked at it he saw a picture similar to what he was seeing since he was five. It wasn't pretty. But he was used to it.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Sasuke asked incredulously. "Don't you see those beggars? Those kids-"

"-searching through the garbage for something to eat?" Naruto interjected. "Those women selling themselves to survive? Those thugs doing what they want?" He looked into the black eyes of the Uchiha. "Yes, I see them. They're pathetic."

"Maa, maa, aren't you a bit too harsh?" Kakashi spoke, his head rising from above his book. "They're doing everything they can to..."

"No, they're not doing everything," Naruto snapped, glaring at the merchant that didn't even say a word when one of the thugs grabbed half of the fish on his stand without paying, only to throw them into the mud in the alley. "They're doing only what they have to. They laid down, hoping that with time they'd get used to Gato's heel on their backs. They gave up. That's why they're pathetic."

Not bothering to look at their reactions Naruto continued tracking Sakura's and Tazuna's footprints... mostly Tazuna's.

Finally they reached a place where the footprints left the forest and led towards one of the houses. It was a normal, wooden, two story house positioned at the edge of the water, like many others in the village, but this one was in slightly better shape. Naruto sensed someone jumping down from the roof.

A second later Sakura appeared in front of them, her wide eyes, green showing traces of fear. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing, really," Naruto said, keeping his voice normal. "We've just came back from a wonderful vacation at the sea resort. How does my tan look?"

Sakura sighed. "Well, at least mentally you're okay." She gave them one more worried look... well, _one_ to Naruto and Kakashi. "Come inside, I'll patch you up."

"You?" Sasuke asked doubtfully as they started walking.

Sakura decided that she had to watch carefully where she puts her feet. "Ummm... yea... I mean, I started to learn about medicine a few weeks ago, after what Naruto said, about my strong sides, and when I learned that medic need a good control, and with you two always getting hurt during spars, I..."

She was blurting out words nervously until Sasuke interrupted, "Then why didn't you tell us before?"

"...I don't know," she admitted timidly. "I guess... I didn't want... you to laugh at me."

"And why would we?"

Sakura just shrugged and opened the door of the house. "Tazuna-san! They're here!"

They all entered what looked like kitchen. Inside, near the sink, stood a young, black-haired woman. From a room deeper in the house came Tazuna. Naruto could feel one more figure up on the floor.

The woman looked at them and gasped, "Oh Kami! You're hurt!"

"Tsunami-san," Sakura spoke calmly. "Is there a place where they can rest?"

"Of course, come with me."

"So, what are you going to do now?" Tazuna asked, taking a bite out of a fish.

Kakashi swallowed. "That depends on how long it'll take to complete the bridge."

The builder winced. "Long," he said, and after a pause added, "A few days after I left Gato send his thugs to the bridge. They didn't knew what to destroy, so the damages were repaired quickly, but most of the workers are now too scared to work. With how many men I have now it'll take around a month to complete it."

Kakashi scratched his chin. "No good," he mused. "In a month Gato can hire a whole army of shinobi."

"Maybe we could help at the bridge?" Sakura inquired.

"No. We have to concentrate on protecting Tazuna. We don't know when Zabuza or somebody else will come."

"And," Tazuna added, "no offense, but four people won't help us that much. I need dozens of new workers."

"Dozens..." mused Kakashi. Naruto noticed that he was looking at him with his one visible eye, and despite the mask he was sure that the jounin was smiling. "I think I have an idea how to help you. It's..."

"Why do you even bother?" They all looked at the entrance, where a small black-haired boy with a white hat stood in the doorway. "Gato will kill you, just give it up."

Naruto shrugged. "Sorry kid, I don't like giving up. And you shouldn't either."

"And what do you know?!" the boy shouted, glaring at him. "You think you're some kind of hero?! You have no idea what we've gone through, you don't know what it's like to suffer or to lose some..."

Naruto saw red. He glared at the boy, making him choke on his own words. "I don't know what it's like to suffer?" he repeated slowly, his quiet voice frizzing the air. "Tell me, do you know what it's like to spend your whole life alone? To be hated by everyone for something that is out of your control? To be thrown out of the orphanage at five, forced to live on the street? Have you ever had to steal or search through the garbage to eat something, to sleep in the sewers just so you don't freeze to death?" By this moment Naruto was standing, not really sure when he rose, glaring at the covering boy, who was too terrified to move, to even look away. "You have your family. I've never had one, and one of the few people who was close to me killed herself, because they hurt her. Just because she knew me!" Naruto's voice rose only a tone higher, but the boy flinched as if he'd yelled on top of his lungs. "You have no idea what I've been through, so don't you dare to talk about suffering."

Feeling that he wouldn't be able to contain himself any longer Naruto quickly walked outside. As soon as the doors closed behind him he darted forward, sprinting towards the forest. He ran, trying to release all his emotions, but the rage that he felt inside didn't diminish. He wanted... to destroy, to tear something, or to find those bastards that hurt Shiho-nee and kill them once again.

After a few minutes of a mad dash he halted. He closed his eyes, trying to get his emotions under control, but he quickly realised that it was impossible. With a loud yell he punched the closest tree, leaving a small dent in the bark. Ignoring the pain he punched it again, deepening it. He was about to hit it for a third time when suddenly everything became black.

When he woke up he was standing in the middle of a sewer. It looked a lot like the ones beneath Konoha. He could tell. He spend quite a bit of time there. It was better than sleeping on the street, and there weren't many people who would come down there after him.

But this wasn't Konoha's sewer. It was water, not something worse, that was reaching over his ankles, and the stench of sewage was absent. Nevertheless, Naruto knew this place. He turned around, coming face to face with a huge gate, at least a hundred feet tall, with a slip of paper keeping it shut. On the slip was drawn a kanji for 'seal'. He couldn't see anything behind the bars. Apart from a few feet everything was concealed in the darkness.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked loudly, making sure to sound emotionless.

Something shifted deep inside the cage. A huge figure rose and came closer, each step made a loud, but soft thud. It came into light, revealing a giant, blood-red fox with huge, red eyes. Everything behind its shoulders was still hidden in the shadows, but Naruto still could see the movement of its nine tails.

"What do I want?" a deep, loud voice, with a hint of amusement in it, made the air vibrate. "It was you who came here, did you not?"

Naruto suppressed a growl. "Don't beat around the bush. We both know that it takes you summoning me or me meditating for me to come here. So just end your games and tell me what you want."

The fox's 'face' shifted into, if Naruto read it correctly, a mocking grin. It was hard to read from its animal features. "Oh, nothing much. I was just curious who it was that made you so furious that you tapped into my power." Naruto looked down and, sure enough, there was something between red mist and liquid seeping through the gates. "Did you kill that someone? Last time this happened you almost went on a rampage. If it wasn't for that girl you would've kill those guys." Naruto looked up and saw the Kyuubi's grin widening. "Oh wait, you killed them anyway, didn't you? After she hung herself." Naruto gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, looking down at his feet and trying to stop himself from... doing something. "Oh sorry. I shouldn't remind you about that?"

The boy decided that he had enough. Suppressing a growl he turned around and walked away, trying hard not to show how tense he was. Behind him the Kyuubi let out a deep chuckle. "I admit it, you're good at keeping your emotions in check. But, you know... the longer you keep the beast in the cage, the wilder it is once it's finally set free."

* * *

When Naruto emerged from the forest the sun was already setting. Lit by its last rays, devoid of the villagers that already went to find some shelter for a night, the village didn't look that bad at all. The houses were built before anyone here had even heard about Gato, so they were nice and solid. Right now this place looked like one of those small, quiet villages, where life went on slowly and peacefully, that could be found anywhere, in every country.

When he approached Tazuna's house he noticed his daughter chopping the wood at the back of the building. He slowly walked closer, making some noise so as to not scare her.

"Let me do that," he said quietly, taking the wood that she was about to pick up. Tsunami flinched and jumped away, gripping tightly the handle of the axe. It was then that Naruto realised that 'some noise' for shinobi, and 'some noise' for a civilian were two entirely different things. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He raised his hands in a calming manner. He really didn't like the idea of pulling out the axe out of his skull.

Tsunami relaxed, lowering the deadly weapon and putting her left hand on her chest. "No, I... it's..." she trailed off and took a deep breath. "Where have you been? Your friends are worried about you."

The young Uzumaki looked at the wood that he was still holding in his hand. "In the forest. I was... training."

'_Well, it's partially true.'_

Tsunami looked at him carefully. "I'm... sorry for my son. After... after my husband, Kaiza... after he died Inari become sad, and angry... he gave up any hope. He had to watch as Gato killed his..." she trailed off. Naruto sensed that she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "But still he shouldn't talk to you like that, especially after what you said..."

"Forget it," Naruto interrupted.

"But I..."

"Forget that I ever said anything. I also shouldn't have let it out." He concentrated on the piece of wood inside his hands. _'Thin and sharp,'_ he repeated Sakura's words, concentrating. A crack appeared in the wood, but it reached only to about third of its length. Naruto chuckled humourlessly. "We are actually quite similar. The difference is that he gave up, and I decided to fight with it."

Silence came upon them. It was clear that Tsunami had no idea what to say. Naruto decided to spare her the need to say anything.

"Go," he said, putting a few pieces of the already chopped wood inside the nearby basket. "I'll bring more when I'm done," he added, grabbing another piece of wood.

Tsunami hesitated for a second, but then listened, disappearing from his vision, and then his sixth sense when she walked inside the house. Naruto concentrated on the next piece of wood, using wind chakra to split it. Once again he had to use it three times. With a mental sigh he picked another one.

It wasn't even a minute later before the door opened once more and two figures came out. Naruto didn't have to look to know who it was.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, walking around the corner, her voice clearly unsure. The young Uzumaki didn't say anything, he didn't show any sign that he heard her, he just picked another piece of wood. "Naruto, where have you been? We were worried!"

"I was training in the forest," he said once again, this time trying to create two wind blades in the shape of scissors. The split reached three fourth of its length this time.

Silence once again descended upon them, broken only by the sound of the splitting wood. Sasuke and Sakura clearly had no idea how to start and Naruto wasn't going to help them.

"Naruto..." the pinkette finally began tentatively, "... about what you said in the..."

"Forget it." Naruto really hoped that he wouldn't have to repeat it with Kakashi.

"What? But you..."

"Forget that I ever said anything. I shouldn't have say anything."

Sakura hesitated for a bit before quietly saying, "Okay. I won't ask. We'll wait until you're ready. Just... you know that you can tell us anything, right?"

"No, Sakura," Naruto responded coldly. "I don't think so."

This shut her up. She just stood there, and Naruto was sure that her face was shocked, which would later turn to hurt, maybe even teary. He maintained his emotionless face. That was good. Maybe he would be able to do it with Rue too.

Concentrating on chopping the wood was helping. To remember.

It took Sakura over a minute before she opened her mouth, but before she could say anything Sasuke spoke quietly, "Leave it," and then added louder, "Let's go, Kakashi said that he has a plan, but he needs your chakra reserves to do it."

"He wants me to create the bridge with chakra alone?" Naruto muttered, not really sure why Sasuke changed the topic, but he wasn't going to look gifted horse in the mouth.

'_Not that it's totally impossible.'_

* * *

"Water Clone Technique."

The moisture from the surface of the bridge gathered around Naruto, creating large puddles and then rising, forming human figures and changing colour. In the next second dozens redheads in grey cloaks stood in front of the group of builders.

Many let out a group gasp, not really used to the sight of a hundred small redheads appearing out of nowhere. Tazuna and the rest of the Team 7 weren't surprised. They saw Naruto practicing it in the evening, and late into night. Although this was the first time he'd created so many.

"So they can do everything you can, right?" Tazuna asked.

"Pretty much. They're only a bit slower and weaker than me." _'Well, actually ten times weaker, but he don't have to know this,' _Naruto added mentally. "Also, I don't know anything about building the bridge, so..." he trailed off.

"So it means that your men have to watch over them," Kakashi finished for him. "I think that it'd be best if they take a few clones as helpers and show them the ropes."

Tazuna nodded and turned towards his still murmuring workers. "Okay, listen up!" The murmurs stopped as all of the Wave men looked at him. "Those clones are gonna help us, but they don't know anything about building a bridge, so divide them between you, take a few with you, and get them to work." A few question arose, but Tazuna just waved them off. "They'll do the hard work, just watch over them so they don't destroy anything."

The builders reluctantly approached the waiting redheads, still too shocked to realize that they just received an excuse to skip work. Seeing that there was nothing more for him to do Naruto walked towards the edge of the bridge, sat down with his legs hanging over it, and relaxed a bit. Technically he should've stay on guard, but with all those clones around there was no need really. Yesterday, after he had finally grasped how to create Water Clones, he learned that they didn't have his sensory ability, but it was still two hundreds shinobi eyes, even if a little distracted. Tazuna was pretty safe right now.

Naruto's thoughts wandered freely. He didn't concentrate on anything, he was just sitting there and watching the sea, which was surprisingly calm today. It was soothing, at least until he came back to his yesterday's outburst and the person that it was about. He quickly tried to concentrate on something else, to throw those huge green eyes out of his mind, their blank look as she hung...

'_No! Don't think about it! Think about...'_

"...Naruto to do the clones?" Hearing his name drew his attention.

"I already told you, because of his great reserves," Kakashi responded.

"I know that he has a lot of chakra," said Sakura in 'something-I-don't-know-please' tone. "But you're a Jounin, you surely have more chakra than Naruto."

Kakashi chuckled. "No, Sakura. In terms of chakra reserves I'm not even close to his level. No one in Konoha is."

"But... there has to be... Hokage-sama..."

"Even the Hokage don't have as much chakra as Naruto. Actually, it'd be hard to find ten people in the whole world who could be compared to him."

"Why... How can he have so much?" Sakura's voice clearly showed how shocked she was.

Kakashi let out a tired sigh. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"Because he won't tell us anything." The pinkette turned towards the redhead. Naruto was sure that she had this hurt pout on her face that she stole from Rue.

"Well, if he doesn't want to talk about it, then I can't tell you anything either."

"So you know?" a surprised Sakura asked.

"I do. But it's something only Naruto can tell you, so you have to ask him."

"Does it have something to do with how everyone seems to hate him?" Sasuke spoke. It looked like he also was listening.

"You have to ask Naruto," repeated Kakashi.

"Great," Sakura grunted with sarcasm. She mumbled something quietly and sat down at Naruto's side in the same position. "You won't tell us anything, right?" Naruto didn't see any reason to confirm this. The pinkette sighed. "Then maybe at least you will tell us what was that feeling, back in the house?"

Despite himself he glanced at her questioningly. He quickly turned away, but Sakura must have noticed it, because she continued, "You know, that feeling when you were... ummm... scolding the boy." She waited for a few seconds, but he didn't react. "It was like... at first it was just killing intent, but then it disappeared... or rather changed into..." she trailed off, clearly unable to find the right words. Naruto still couldn't find any reason to help her. Especially since he had no idea what was she talking about. "I don't know, it was like... like as if I was standing in the middle of a storm... I could feel wind, even though I knew that there wasn't any. Oh, I don't know how to describe it," she ended with a resigned whine.

Naruto still had no idea what was she talking about. He didn't even notice that he had released killing intent. But it wasn't the time to think about it. Right now he had to find a way to get rid of her. He had to distance himself from them. But it would be impossible if she wouldn't want it too.

"Kakashi," he spoke. Everyone turned to him, but he completely ignored it, stubbornly observing the sea. "I want to infiltrate Gato's hideout."

"What?" Sakura blurted out. "Why?"

"To kill him," he responded, making sure to keep his voice and face cold and emotionless. _'The best way to stop the assassination attempts is to kill the principal,' _he thought, repeating an advice he'd heard a few years ago.

For a full minute Kakashi was silent, observing him, before he finally asked quietly, "You sure about this?"

"It's the best way to stop the attacks."

"And what if you aren't able to reach him?"

"Then at least I will find out where he is, or how many men he has, or when he or Zabuza is going to attack. I don't like sitting and waiting for a blow. Right now we are in the dark."

Kakashi once again went silent, still observing Naruto. The redhead was tempted to look at his teammates, to find out how his small plan worked, but he knew that it'd be a mistake.

"Okay," the jounin said finally, surprising Naruto. He was sure that he'd have to convince him for at least next ten minutes. "But I'm going with you." Naruto tensed, and was about to protest, but Kakashi was faster, "I'll stay outside in case you need any help."

Naruto suppressed a shrug. He really wanted to argue, but he also knew that it'd be a vain attempt.

"When do you want to go?"

"Tonight." It'd be nice to wait a few days, to wait for a new moon, but they didn't have that luxury.

They never had.

* * *

Naruto and Kakashi were jumping through the forest in the growing darkness of the evening. The sun was already hidden behind the horizon, leaving only the quickly dying rays that painted few small clouds a bright orange.

'_Great colour,' _the redhead thought.

"Naruto," Kakashi spoke. The Uzumaki didn't react. "Why were you so cold towards the others today?"

Naruto glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "'Cause normally I'm so happy and friendly, right?"

Kakashi sighed with resignation. "Maa, maa, don't be like that. Why are you pushing them away?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, looking straight ahead.

Kakashi opened his mouth, hesitated, and then spoke, "After our first C-rank you three become close. You were all secretive about it, so I didn't say anything, but I noticed how your teamwork improved, how you became warmer towards each other, how you were training together."

At this Naruto frowned. There were a few times when he sensed someone watching them while they were training. Sometimes, when he could see or hear them, they were just Sasuke's fangirls, but sometimes, when he caught them with his sixth sense... that meant shinobi. Whether they were more of 'Uchiha-sama's' admirers, those who hated him, or someone who wanted to gain power by influencing him or the Last Uchiha, Naruto wasn't training while they were around. Neither were Sasuke and Sakura. But Kakashi's words... it could just mean that he noticed their improvement, but it also could mean that he saw them. And if he managed to avoid his senses, then someone else could as well... someone not exactly friendly.

While he went on a trip through his thoughts Kakashi continued to talk. Naruto decided that he needed to preserve his patience for the few next hours. "What do you want?"

Kakashi hesitated for a few seconds, surprised by the interruption. "To know what happened."

'_Ah, so that's it. You expect me to tell you that it's because of what I said earlier and then draw Shiho-nee's story out of me,' _Naruto realized. _'Well, no such luck.'_

"The Chunnin Exams are next month." He could almost feel Kakashi's surprised eyes on the back of his head. "You will let us participate, you said yourself that we're ready. After that I will be promoted. It's not an arrogance, I just know where I stand. Sasuke will probably be promoted too. Then we won't be a team anymore."

"So that's it," Kakashi said with understanding. "But your promotion doesn't mean the end to our team. And that we won't see each other anymore. You don't have to worry about this."

"It would be better if we don't see each other," Naruto said before he could stop himself.

"Why?"

'_Because they're safer that way,' _Naruto said in his head, but he couldn't say this aloud. Before he came up with something to cover his slip he sensed a huge structure before them. "We're here," he muttered, and shot forward, leaving Kakashi behind.

About a minute later he stopped, landing on a branch around five feet about the ground. He instinctively moved his body so it was mostly hidden by the tree trunk and looked through the leaves. Before him was a huge eastern-style mansion. It had four levels, each a little smaller than the one beneath it, and a tilled roof with wooden sculpted figures at the edges. A wall that was surrounding the building wasn't too tall, maybe six feet high, just enough to hide what was inside from the ground level.

Naruto also saw, and sensed, a few men around the mansion, but if they were on guard duty, then they surely weren't paying too much attention to their job. Most of them were standing in place, chatting and drinking from canteens. Only a few were patrolling, and those few were also in groups, talking and barely noticing anything around them.

Kakashi landed on the branch on the left. "They don't seem to be too on guard," Naruto muttered.

"They're doing what they want for a few months. They probably think that the villagers are too afraid and resigned to even consider coming here."

'_Which is quite accurate actually,' _thought Naruto. He glanced at the mansion again, planning his route and flicking his wrists. "I'm going."

"Already? You are not going to wait for the changing of the guards or complete darkness?"

"A change of guards is useful only if you're going to knock somebody out, and darkness means sleep. It's quite hard to eavesdrop when someone isn't talking." Naruto looked at the already dark sky. It was almost completely clear, thousands of stars lightly illuminating the surroundings.

'_Idiot,' _he thought to himself. _'You were thinking about the phase of the moon, but you didn't think that it wouldn't appear until morning.'_

"Alright, you can go. But be careful. If you need any help fire off an explo..."

"I won't," Naruto interrupted and jumped down.

Some time ago Sakura asked him how he was so good at stealth. He didn't answer. Not because he wanted to hide it. He just didn't know. It probably had something to do with the fact that he was hiding from everyone since he was four... or rather since he could walk. It also could be inborn, though that would be rather hard to confirm.

Whatever was the case, he didn't have to test its effects tonight. The guards were only interested in themselves and their canteens, which, judging by the slight sway in a few cases, weren't filled with water. The wall wasn't a problem either. Even someone without chakra, even without special condition or physical efficiency, would be able to get over it. Sneaking through the terrain between it and the mansion was just as hard.

Getting inside the building was only a slightly more difficult challenge. The few first windows on the ground level showed big rooms containing a lot of bunks, with several thugs moving around. It would be a good place to start his... research, but going inside through the window wouldn't be the epitome of subtlety. So instead Naruto climbed up, to the second floor.

Here he had more luck. The window through which he looked inside showed him an empty hall with a few lamps lighting the far end. Naruto opened it slightly, just enough to allow his senses to 'flow' inside. He waited, concentrating on 'feeling' the inside of the mansion. He sensed some merchants on the level below, but it was very dull. He noticed that his sensory ability was weaker inside the buildings than in the open field. After all, the air was moving more freely outside than in the...

'_Damn it, focus!' _Naruto scolded himself. He opened the window fully and jumped inside. He walked soundlessly towards the end of the hall, towards the staircase.

Now... now he had two choices. Change into a bandit, go down and listen to the merchants' talks, or go up, where as he suspected Gato's rooms were, and try to find something there. Downstairs he would surely hear a lot... a lot of crap at that. The chance that it'd be important was very slim. On the other hand, on the upper levels it'd be harder to find anything, but if he did, then it'd be something valuable.

'_Well, I can always look upstairs later,' _Naruto decided, and concentrated on the image of Iruka. He noticed long ago that it was easier to change a face he knew, like adding a scar and a beard, or widening it a bit, than trying to create one from nothing. He moved his hands in a handseal...

... and stopped, feeling some commotion upstairs.

One of the doors slammed open and a person stumbled out, quickly followed by another one, who walked backwards with a hand on the hilt of a sword. Naruto concentrated, trying to feel the inside of the room, but it was all fuzzy, like looking through a dimed glass. He sensed a figure inside, but he wasn't even able to say if it was tall or short.

The door slammed shut. The figures in the hall stood still for a moment, and Naruto heard some murmurs, before they started walking towards the stairs. The young Uzumaki was about to bolt towards one of the rooms, but he stopped. He won't hear anything there. Instead he backed towards the shadowed corner, pulling on his hood to make sure that it was covering the upper half of his face in the shadow. The lower half was covered by a dark scarf.

The voices became cleaner as the figures come closer to the stairs. Naruto waited, not able to recognise the words, until, "...kid die and he attack them for revenge."

"The kid should've die long ago." The second voice said, a hint of arrogance and coldness in it; a coldness that bordered on boredom. This was the voice of someone who would yawn while standing over a dead body. "Even with proper medicines he shouldn't survive that long."

"If the kid doesn't die soon the boss will order us to attack on our own." This voice was a bit stifled and nasal. He was holding his nose.

"Then we will attack. Shinobi are not invincible. I've already killed one."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Though she killed six of my comrades."

"That 's not really that reassuring you know," the nasal voice spoke nervously. "Maybe we should poison the kid?"

"Zabuza will recognize it." Their boots appeared on the top of the stairs.

"Then maybe we will wait a few days?"

Now he could see them whole. The most noticeable feature of the one on the right was an eye patch that covered his right eye and two tattoos; one over his left shoulder and on left side of his bare chest looking like some tribal markings, and another one that looked like a grapevine wrapped over his left arm. He had some bandages on his lower abdomen, and wore a black and white loose-fitting kimono, of which upper half was falling around his waist, and a katana strapped to his right hip. His brown hair was shaped like three pineapple, and a matching goat-like beard and a scar over his left eye completed his profile. He still had a bit of blood under his nose.

The second one was similar in hair, but he wasn't as muscular as his companion. He had the slim body of a runner, clearly visible under skin-tight black clothes. He also had matching gloves and soft, leather boots. He didn't have any visible weapons, but upon closer inspection Naruto noticed an outline of a dagger on his left ankle. A few bangs of his long black hair were partly covering his blue eyes.

Eyes that were looking straight at Naruto.

Naruto stamped on an urge to move, run away, hide somewhere. He knew that in the shadows it was hard to see shapes. It was movement that the people saw when it was dark. As long as he was still he was invisible. But knowing it didn't change the fact that his whole body, every single part of it, was screaming to him: 'HIDE!'.

"We don't have time." the one in black spoke, turning towards his companion, and allowing Naruto to let out a sigh of relief... inwardly, of course. "A scout said that there are more workers on the bridge. He was too afraid to come closer, but he said that there were over a hundred of them."

"Where did they found..."

"He was probably exaggerating, but still, they're going to complete the bridge soon."

"What does boss think about this?"

"He was talking about the attack before he left."

"Damn... so, fighting with shinobi, huh?" Naruto heard resignation in the tattooed one voice.

"Don't be a wuss, I've told you, they're not invincible," his companion said, a tinge of irritation and impatience in his tone. "There were ten of us when I killed this ninja chick, now we have over a hundred of men against just three or four of them. Make sure that you're not their current target and watch out for thrown weapons and you'll be fine."

The tattooed one sighed. "I need a drink," he muttered. "You coming?"

His companion didn't bother to answer. He just turned around and walked down the hall.

"Moody bastard," Tattoo muttered, watching as he went inside one of the rooms, and then went down the stairs.

Well, this was convenient. Naruto was lucky. In that one conversation he heard what he needed to know. How many of them there were, and if Zabuza was going to attack as well. The only thing he didn't know was when. But they could do without that little tidbit.

It actually almost looked too good to be true. The paranoid side of himself was raising an alarm, saying that it was all just set up to fool him. But he dismissed that thought. Even if someone sensed him sneaking in it would be almost impossible to came up with this plan and explain it to everyone. They'd have to know beforehand that he was going to come. And it was even less possible. Unless there was a spy between the builders...

It was possible. But it'd be someone sent by Gato himself, and somehow it didn't seem like him to Naruto. The possibility that it was a villager was even smaller. Someone who was saving his own skin by informing the bandits wouldn't help to build a bridge at the same time.

Though he could be threatened.

Naruto bit back a curse. The problem was that he had no way to confirm it. Going down between the bandits was pointless. Even if it was the truth they wouldn't be informed until the very attack, so they'd have no time to think about it.

Looking through the rooms upstairs also wouldn't help him. It wasn't a militaristic shinobi village, so there wouldn't be reports and written orders among the paperwork. And since Gato wasn't here he couldn't kill or interrogate him. Though now that he thought about this, killing him wasn't such a great idea. No matter how cruel the tyrant was, he was keeping his men in check. A hundred bandits running free without any guidance would destroy everything.

Naruto suppressed a sigh, resigned to a guard duty outside the mansion. He idly contemplated using a clone, but decided against it. Wind clones were too unstable, and water clones were too slow to quickly warn them if Zabuza attack them when Haku die...

Haku! The girl was dying! If what the bandit said was true, then she should be one foot in the grave. Naruto could go up and check her state. If she was be on her way to the other world then the rest of it would be the truth too.

The sceptical part of his mind once again pointed out that it was a long shot, after all, even with proper meds she could die, but this time, despite his suspicious nature, he stomped down on it. It wasn't something that he could prove, but everything he heard about Gato gave him a vibe of someone who would do something like that.

With his mind set he moved towards the window, the same one that he used to enter. Making sure that he wasn't visible from the outside he opened it slightly and let his senses spread to look for guards. They may be lax, but the light from the hall, no matter how weak it was, would make his figure pretty easy to notice, no matter how good he was hiding. It was just one of those things that normally were impossible to avoid. Though if someone could feel his surroundings...

Once again catching his thoughts drifting Naruto concentrated and, confirming the absence of the guards nearby, jumped out on the wooden tiles. He quickly closed the door and moved away, so his figure wouldn't be visible on the window's background, before climbing up on the third level and quietly sneaking around, reaching the window to Zabuza's room.

It was quite simple. Wooden walls, a desk on the right, a closet in front of the window and a bed on the left. Haku was laying on the bed; Zabuza's huge sword leaned against the nightstand, and its owner staying at its side. With his back to the window.

'_Well, the girl means to him more than he wants to admit,' _Naruto thought. They were scolded for such a mistake in the _Academy_.

He concentrated on the laying girl. She was thrashing a bit, and he noticed sweat and flush on her face. Her hands were tightly griping the sheets. _'Fewer... that means infection. Something that should be stopped by the meds.' _Naruto nodded to himself, receiving his answer. He stopped for a few seconds, observing the duo inside.

He should leave. He knew he should. They were enemies; they tried to kill him, they tried to kill his teammates. And even if they didn't, he couldn't help them. He had no idea how...

'_...Zabuza-sama's weapon...'_

"Damn conscience," Naruto muttered under his breath. He had killed before. Why couldn't he let her die now?

He knew why. Every single person who died by his hand before deserved it. They were just scum, some of them should've even suffered more for what they did. But Haku didn't want to kill, to harm them. She was just following the orders of someone who she clearly admired. She was a shinobi. They were also dying, and Naruto was sure that he will kill more ninja just because of the conflict of incidents... but he couldn't just let her die like that, without even trying to help.

He took out a blank seal tag and a pencil, deciding to do the only thing he could: warn them. Quickly scribbling a small note: 'They're betraying you. That's not medicine. Friend.' he looked inside once again, trying to find a way to slip it inside. His eyes landed on the doors... they were _not _leading to the hall. He snuck towards the next window. He was right, this room had two doors, one towards the room where Zabuza and Haku were, and the other leading to the hall. It also had a big table with six chairs around it in the middle and few cabinets on the right. Overall, it looked more like a living room than a bedroom like the other one.

Naruto opened the window very slowly. Kakashi said that Zabuza was a master of silent killing, so Naruto had to be even more careful. When the wind entered the room Naruto closed his eyes, concentrating on his sixth sense. Deciding that it was safe he carefully went inside, making sure that he didn't make any sound. He made a step towards the table...

And then the doors burst open. Naruto had only time to turn around before he found himself pinned to the wall, with the cold kiss of a blade on his throat. He looked up, into the cold, merciless eyes of Zabuza with two thoughts in mind; what gave him away and why was he still alive.

"Any reason why I shouldn't kill you right now?" Zabuza whispered lethally.

Naruto thought for a second. He knew that the wrong answer would lead to a lot of blood. "Because I came here to warn you." He pointed with his eyes to the paper he had in his hand. Something was telling him that moving any part of his body wasn't the best idea right now.

Zabuza glanced down and then back up. "Warn me?"

"They aren't giving you medicine," Naruto muttered. "They hope that when Haku dies you will attack us in revenge."

"How do you know that?"

"I overheard them ten minutes ago."

The pressure on his throat lessened a bit, though it didn't disappear. "Why should I trust you?"

"You tell me. Do you think that Gato would do something like that?" Naruto asked. Zabuza didn't respond. His head twitched, as if he wanted to turn it towards the girl's room. "She has a fever," Naruto pushed forward. "Even the most basic meds should stop the infection, right?"

A bit of hesitation appeared in Zabuza's eyes, before they hardened again as he once again pressed at Naruto's throat. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't like fighting against A-rank missing-nins."

Zabuza's eyes bored in his for a few seconds. Naruto responded with a cold look. He knew what was going on in the missing-nin's mind. From his point of view it could be a bluff that would stop him from fighting. Now it all depended on Zabuza's opinion of Gato. Naruto could only wait.

After an eternity the huge blade slowly withdrew. Naruto released a breath as Zabuza made two steps back. "Go. Get out of here." He didn't have to repeat that. The Uzumaki quickly walked towards the window, tense and ready, even if he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop Zabuza if he decided to kill him. He reached the window and turned around. The missing-nin was standing in the same place, observing him. Naruto noticed a faint mist that was floating around his ankles, almost invisible.

'_So that's how he sensed me.'_

"I'm sorry. I hope that she survives." And with that he jumped out. He made a few steps before he heard Zabuza's voice behind.

"Not 'she'. Haku is a boy."

And then the window shut, leaving a stunned Naruto in the darkness.

* * *

**Well then, I'll play a mind reader. So... damn it, a pervert... another pervert... damn, that's some kinky stuff... Oh, why didn't I use shadow clones?**

**Well, I have an official and an unofficial reason. Official is that jounins shouldn't give genins, no matter how talented or how much chakra they have, B-ranked kinjutsu, at least not without a special permission. But this is just my excuse if anyone accuse me of being lazy... which I am actually, but shhhh... Unofficially, well, I just don't like this technique. Or no, rather I don't like how abused it was in canon. It's a great technique, one that gives a great strategic advantage to the user, but in canon Naruto use it just to spam his enemies with waves after waves of clones that are dispelled as soon as they come in range (Fight against Kimimaro, as an example).**

**And with the memory transfer I would be forced to speed up Naruto's growth. While in canon it could be explained by Naruto's... lack of intelligence, this Naruto is much more thoughtful. He thinks through things every time he have a bit of free time, so it'd be kind of hard to explain why he didn't notice that.**

**Well, I don't see anything else that needs an explanation, (though I may be wrong so feel free to ask) so then, until next time.**


	11. 11- Shadow's darkness, Shadow's light

**Disclaimer: I tried, believe me, I really tried. But still, I don't own Naruto**

{11}

Naruto almost grinned when Sasuke grunted in annoyance. The redhead was of course noticing his teammate's attempt to find him and from the hasty movements Naruto guessed he was rather enthusiastic about it. At least during the first twenty minutes. Now, now the Uchiha seemed annoyed and jumped around.

"Naruto? You're here?" Sasuke asked, landing on a branch.

The young Uzumaki hid a smirk, walking from behind the tree trunk. The very same tree as the Uchiha landed, just behind him on another branch.

"No." Suppressing a smirk became even harder when Sasuke spun around with a surprised look on his face. Naruto guessed Sasuke was only now beginning to understand Naruto's stealth skill.

His teammate quickly hid his emotions behind his usual mask of Uchiha-Inherited indifference. "My turn."

Instantly losing any trace of his amusement Naruto turned away and sat down. "Go away. I'll take your shift."

"You've already took Sakura's. You should get some sleep."

"Maybe you haven't noticed it, but I'm not a big fan of sleeping," Naruto said, and when the Uchiha didn't react, he added, "Or talking, by the way."

Sasuke stayed silent for a few seconds before sighing with resignation and sitting down next to him, "I give up. Sakura wanted to show it subtly, but I guess you're just too thick." Naruto turned, trying to glare at him, but the rising sun that shone right into his face completely destroyed it. "We don't care if it's too dangerous to stick with you. You won't get rid of us."

Naruto's eyes' widened. "How…?" He stopped and turned away, trying to hide his shock. Shock, that Sasuke just voiced the same thought that was running through his mind for the last few days. Did Kakashi spill his secret? Probably not. He wasn't the type to indulge in other people's secret. Besides, the dreaded name would have fallen already, if Sasuke knew everything.

"How did I find out?" The Uchiha asked, "It wasn't really that hard… especially for someone used to think like that." This time Naruto wasn't hiding his expression. He turned to his teammate with a frown on his face. "So you thought that you're the only one?" Asked Sasuke. The raven-haired boy looked down at his knees. The silence grew longer. Naruto was starting to believe that he won't hear anything else, but the Uchiha surprised him once again, "It's not that I thought about our classmates as annoying." Naruto rose an eyebrow. Sasuke didn't look his way, but he must have somehow sense his disbelief, because he shifted a bit and added, "Okay, I did. Most of them, still... there were a few that I could become… acquainted with."

Naruto once again hid his smirk. It looked like the word 'befriend' didn't exist in the Uchiha's vocabulary. "But… Itachi killed my family, my friends, my clan… I didn't…" he hesitated for a second, "…he said that I should hate him, that I should use this hate to grow stronger and to kill him…"

Naruto idly noticed that it was the first time that he heard Sasuke say his brother's name. He also heard the words that he didn't say. 'I didn't want to lose someone again'.

The last thing his noticed was that the whole time Sasuke was using past tense. So, if it used to be 'were' and 'didn't', not 'are' and 'don't', then…

"Then what changed?"

Sasuke looked up, at the sky. The sun already rose above the horizon, showing a completely clear, crystal blue ceiling of the world. "I… don't know..." he said slowly, "…and I don't know when…" he looked away, and if it would be someone else, Naruto would say that he was embarrassed. "…all I know is that you and Sakura became someone important to me… and this time, I won't…"

"Shhh…" Naruto interrupted, rising his hand and closing his eyes. Sasuke's head turned to him, but the large group at the edge of his senses that was slowly approaching their position was more interesting.

"Looks like they're coming," he said, making three handseals and creating a Water Clone that immediately jumped in the village's direction. With that done, Naruto jumped forward, waving at Sasuke." Come, let's put some traps."

"Wait!" The Uchiha shouted after him, jumping to the branch on which Naruto stopped. If before he was suspecting it, now Naruto was almost sure. Sasuke looked… embarrassed. "Don't you dare to say anyone about…" he waved in the general direction of the tree that they occupied before.

Naruto allowed the corner of his mouth to rise. "You want me to hide from the world the only proof that THE Uchiha Sasuke has emotions?" Completely ignoring the murderous glare that was send his way. Naruto turned around. "Well… if my… 'acquaintance'… asks me to…"

{11}

The attack on the approaching group of bandits was surprising, fast and devastating. It had to be. Unlike the attack on the camp at the Fire/Rain border, their enemy, meaning Team 7, knew about their presence and were expecting a fight. The bandits even had the chance to kill them. Not Kakashi, he was rather out of their reach, but, as much as Naruto didn't want to admit it, if they would manage to surprise and surround the Genins, they would probably kill them. Of course, they would lose a lot of people, and the rest would be wiped out by Kakashi, but for Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura it would be rather poor consolation.

The attack started with two huge fireballs, one from the front, courtesy of Sasuke, the other from behind, made by Kakashi. As soon as they appeared the group of over a hundred of bandits scattered, trying to run into the forest on both sides of the road. Some of them made it. Some did not.

Those who avoided the blazing inferno didn't even have the time to release a relieved breath. As soon as they ran between the trees they activated dozens of traps. A rain of kunai and shuriken fell on, once again reducing their numbers.

And then came the last act. Between the confused, bewildered and terrified scraps of the bandits' blurry figures appeared and started to methodically take them out. They Gato's men tried to fight back, but it was like fighting against the shadows. Their slashed were deflected, their stabs evaded, their blows stopped. Whenever the shadowy blurs appeared people were falling.

They had no chance. Not the slightest.

This was the difference between the ambush prepared by bandits and the trap sprang by shinobi. Bandit's ambush was dangerous.

A Shinobi's trap is certain death.

{11}

Naruto looked around the battle… slaughterfield, looking for Gato, or his body.

While before they couldn't kill him to prevent the chaos, now they had to take him out before he hired another batch of thugs. Bridge or no, Gato was still a dangerous, rich tycoon.

Team 7 couldn't just let him be.

"Look for a short man with a great mane of shaggy, brown hair." Naruto said to his teammates.

"That's all?"

"If you want his size you would have to ask the whores in the village." The pinkette glared at him, but the fact that her face remained deathly pale and the lack of… anything in her eyes clearly showed that she wasn't over it yet. Her trembling hands and the fact that she was looking at them every few seconds confirmed it. "But I think that he also had glasses."

Sakura nodded and went back to examining bodies. Naruto moved towards the road. Bodies here were in much worse condition. Checking through the half crisped scraps of the bandits surely wouldn't help her mental state. In the back of his head Naruto wondered with a bitter grin in what state his mind was.

"Where is Gato?"

Naruto looked up. Kakashi was leaning over the same bandit that he saw in the mansion, the one with tattoos all over his left arm and chest.

The man just shot Kakashi a bloody grin. "Fuck you."

"Tell me where Gato is" repeated Kakashi with a steely voice.

"Or what? You'll kill… "The bandit started coughing, the blood creating a small stream on his face. "…kill me? I'm already dead."

"You won't die that fast. It'll take at least ten more minutes before you lose consciousness form the blood loss." Kakashi informed the thug, and then he showed the bandit a kunai. "But I can end your suffering." He put the kunai at the thugs' temple, before slowly dragging it across his face, neck shoulder, a small bleeding line following. The line continued to his arm where Kakashi put a bit more pressure on it, drawing more blood. "… or make it worse."

The bandit shuddered, in fear or in pain, before his face hardened. "Fuck you." He repeated weakly.

"He is… not here…" Naruto turned around. At the edge of the road, leaning against one of the first trees, sat another bandit. It was hard to tell what he looked like, cause his body was covered in burns and blisters and his left arm was burned to black crisps, but to Naruto he seemed very young, like a teenager. Naruto winced slightly, seeing his state. He run away from the fireball itself, but the heat did its job.

'_His lungs are probably in similar state,'_ he thought, listening to his wheezing. _'Though maybe it's a proper punishment.'_ If Naruto would have to guess, he would say that the boy was a villager that tried to survive by joining a pack of wolves.

"Then where is he?" He asked, crouching at the young bandit's side.

"On his… ship… *couch*… north…easth…" The bandit's arm, the better one, reached for Genin quickly backed away, summoning a kunai out of reflex. The boy's arm fell. "…phlease… *cough*… make him… phay… *cough*… for what… he did… tho… *cough*… tho my… family…"

Naruto's eyes widened a fraction. This wasn't a traitor, or a coward. He was looking at one of the few men from Wave that really had guts… that were trying to fight… and they killed him. Because they didn't know. Because he didn't find him, because he didn't go downstairs…

He once again crouched at his side. "I'm sorry," he said, "We can't help you anymore." He looked down, at the kunai that he was still holding in his hand. "I… can only relief you of the pain." He showed the boy the weapon before putting it to his temple.

"Whait…" the bandit wheezed out, "…phromise me… that… *cough*… you'll… make… him… phay…" Naruto looked in his eyes and nodded. The boy's eyes shone with gratefulness and he even managed a weak, pained smile. "…thank… *cough*… you…"

Naruto nodded again, gripped the kunai tightly… and pushed.

He watched the boy for a few more seconds before standing up and turning around. He noticed that Kakashi was observing him, but he run away from his eyes.

"Guys!" He shouted, and when he felt that they turned around he added, "Come here." Sasuke and Sakura quickly run to his side. Naruto run away from their gazes as well. "Gato stayed on his ship in the north-east. Let's go."

"This wound…." Sasuke muttered, and Naruto felt that he was turned towards the boy's corpse.

"Naruto, did you…" The young Uzumaki jumped, not allowing Sakura to end.

He was feeling bad enough already.

{11}

Naruto stood hidden at the edge of the tree line, watching as his team was saying their last goodbyes to Tazuna and his family. He already told his quiet 'good luck' and left as quickly as he could. He was sick of all those 'thank you' and 'we're grateful'.

Yes, Gato was dead.

Though not by any of theirs hand.

Four days ago, when they found his ship, instead of a fight that they were expecting, they found death. Every bandit on that vessel was dead. They didn't even draw their weapons, there was no sign of any fight. They were all just lying there, with surprised or terrified looks on their faces, in pools of their own and their comrades' blood that was still flowing from their wounds. Wounds on their throats, kidneys, livers. The slashes were very precise and clean. Kakashi confirmed Naruto's suspicions when he said that the bandits were killed with a huge, broad blade.

They have found Gato's body in a huge pool of blood in a room at the bow of the ship. His wounds weren't precise or clear. He had gashes on his whole body, and his severed head was lying few feet away, with an expression so horrified, that if wasn't for a fact that it wasn't attached to the rest of his body, Naruto would say that he died out of fear. The room itself was painted red with blood, splashes of red on the floor, furniture, walls, even ceiling. Kakashi spared Sakura the look of it, there was no reason to attack her mind more than necessary at this point.

There was too much blood for one body. The tycoon saw the death of a few of his men before he died.

It wasn't hard to guess what happened. Gato got what he wanted. Zabuza came back for his revenge.

"Thank you once again for all you have done to us," Tsunami said with a slight bow.

"Maa, maa, don't worry about this." Kakashi, lazy as always, waved dismissively.

"We're just glad that we could help," Sakura added.

'_And we're glad to take your money,' _thought Naruto.

"Where is the third kid? This quiet redhead?" Tazuna asked.

"Oh, he's somewhere around." Kakashi looked in Naruto's direction.

"I wanted to thank him," Inari said, sounding disappointed.

Sakura leaned in front of him. "Say it out loud," She advised, "I'm sure he's hiding somewhere in those trees. He's a bit shy, you know."

Naruto stomped down on an urge to growl that he was NOT shy, thank you very much. The kid looked at the tree line around them and spoke loudly.

"Thank you, Naruto-niissan." He then turned to the others. "You too, Sakura-neesan, Sasuke-niisan."

Naruto suppressed a groan, idly wondering if he was imagining this, or has Sasuke really shuddered a bit. Shrugging it off he pushed from the tree he was leaning against. Making sure to make some noise he walked a few steps, until his teammates noticed him, before jumping up to the trees in the direction of Konoha.

It took them over half an hour to finally catch up with him. When they did Sakura send him a sly smile. "You know, I was joking then, but I guess you really are shy."

"I'm not shy," responded Naruto, hoping that it sounded like a statement, and not a grumpy denial.

"Suuure. Then why did you run?"

"Cause I had enough of their 'Thank you, can I kiss your butt'."

"They weren't that bad!" Sakura insisted, slightly offended.

"Really?" Naruto turned to her with a rose eyebrow. She averted her gaze, which he took as an answer.

"Now you know how I feel in Konoha," Sasuke muttered.

Naruto glanced at him. He wondered what was worse; being hated for something that was done to you hours, or maybe even minutes after your birth or being adored and admired because your brother killed your whole family in front of your eyes….

Family….

"Kakashi," he spoke, "do you think it's possible to wander a bit of the course?"

"Hmmm…" The Jounin mused, "That depends on how far you want to wander."

"To the Land of Whirlpool."

'_Well, he wasn't expecting that,' _Naruto thought, almost feeling his sensei's surprise, but before Kakashi could say anything Sakura spoke.

"Whirlpool? It's a small island on the east from the Land of Fire, right? Why do you want to go there?"

The Redhead hesitated with his answer. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to talk about that. Still, if they get there, Sakura and Sasuke would eventually draw the conclusion themselves. And maybe, just maybe, he was contemplating what Kakashi had said a few days earlier. "My clan lived there."

"Your clan?"

"Uzumaki," Naruto replied shortly, hoping that they would catch a hint…

"I've never heard about the Uzumaki clan" …but since when did anybody care about his hopes? Naruto glared at the Uchiha, but after a few seconds he resigned. The wouldn't stop until he would answer.

"No surprise here. Iruka only mentioned them once, when we were talking about the Shinobi Wars." Naruto elaborated, a familiar cold feeling rising in his stomach.

"I don't remember…" started Sakura.

"He said that the Third Shinobi War started after the destruction of an Uzumaki Clan."

The pinkette gasped. "Destruction…?"

"So you're… the only living Uzumaki?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know. Maybe."

"What do you mean, 'maybe'?"

"I don't know Sasuke, there might be some Uzumaki alive. I might not even be an Uzumaki!" Naruto's voice rose a bit. He forced himself to calm down and continued, "Maybe it's just a coincidence. Maybe someone just saw my red hair and decided that they look like Uzumaki's. I'm an orphan whose parents died during the Kyuubi attack. I don't think that I would ever find out." He knew that it was pathetic. Like every orphan he was hoping that his parents were important, that he belonged somewhere, that they leaved him because they had to. Even if, in the logical part of his mind, he knew that he probably was son of some prostitute that didn't want to take care of him.

"So, Kakashi, what would you say?" He asked, wanting to change the topic. He didn't have to look at them to know that they were looking at him with pity. He didn't need pity.

The Jounin sighed. "I'm sorry Naruto. The Land of Whirlpool took its name from the deadly currents and whirlpools that surrounds the island, dangerous even for experienced ninja. There was once a bridge that was connecting it to the mainland, but it was destroyed during the war. Of course there is a safe path through the currents, but I don't know it. Unless you happened to know this path, we would have to return to Konoha and find it first."

Naruto was about to ask if they could go when they returned, but he stopped. Three days to Konoha, day or two for rest and looking for a way, around four days for a travel to the Whirlpool and another four for return. Adding another few days for sightseeing it would make almost three weeks.

And Chuunin Exams were starting exactly in three weeks.

"Not before the exams, right?" He asked with resignation. Kakashi already said that they were ready, so he will surely sign them in. and entering just after a long, tiring travel wasn't the best idea. If they would make it at all.

"I'm afraid so," the Jounin said, "But after the Exams I promise that I'll take you to the Uzu ruins myself."

"Whatever," Naruto muttered after a few second, failing a bit in hiding his disappointment.

For about a minute they were jumping in silence before Sasuke spoke, "Why do you want to go there anyway? You're hoping to find something?"

Naruto snorted, "Yeah, powerful weapons, jutsu and half of my clan still alive," He scoffed, "Of course not. It's a ruin, and even if there was something left after the destruction, which I doubt, after all these years it's already stolen."

"So why then?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know." He didn't elaborate. He pushed harder, shooting forward, leaving the rest behind. He wanted to be left alone now. After all, what he was supposed to say? That he wanted to feel some kind of connection? That he hoped to find some proof that he was an Uzumaki? That he wanted to feel what it's like to call some place 'home'?

It sounded stupid even to him.

{11}

"Hey Little One, three miso ramen here."

Rue whirled around with wide eyes. At the entry to the stand stood Naruto, with the corner of his lips rose. Responding to this 'smile' with her own radiant one she quickly jumped over the counter and tackled him, circling his waist with her arms and forcing him to take a step back.

"Oi! What the… do I look like a huge teddy bear to you?" He scowled, but Rue could tell that the irritation in his voice wasn't real.

She looked at him and nodded vigorously, trying to keep her face as innocent as she could, but the grin that was forcing itself on her features won.

Naruto shot her a reprimanding look. "You're getting uppity, Little One."

Her grin widening, she let go of him and took a step back, but before she could respond someone from behind Naruto said, "She's learning from you."

Rue looked around the redhead and saw Sasuke and Sakura entering the stand. Naruto glared at the former. "I'm not uppity, I'm just honest, Duckbutt."

Sasuke glared back and was about to response but Sakura was faster, "When did you left? You were with us when we left the Hokage-Tower and then you just disappeared."

Naruto just shrugged and turned to Rue. "So, what about that ramen?"

Rue smiled and signed, "Right away," before jumping back over the counter. She was about to run to the back of the stand, to Ayame, but a thought stopped her. She turned to Sasuke and Sakura and signed, "Do you want something?"

"I'll take the same as the Dobe." Sasuke spoke, and then added as if an afterthought, "Just less."

"I'll take small fish ramen Rue-chan, thank you," Sakura said with a smile.

Rue nodded and rushed to the back of the stand. Ayame was sitting at the small table in the corner reading some book. When she heard the girl's footsteps she looked up.

"What it is, Rue-chan? A customer?" She asked.

Rue nodded, showed four fingers, made a handsign for 'big' and another one that she came up with herself that meant 'miso ramen', then showed one finger, handsign for 'small' and 'fish ramen'.

Ayame nodded, standing up. "All right, get to the noodles."

They got to work: Rue was boiling water and watching the noodles, while Ayame was preparing bowls and vegetables. The broth was already made. It had to be, cause making a new one took almost two hours. Thought they had a lot of customers so the broth was never older than an hour.

When everything was ready Rue grabbed one bowl, making sure that it was miso ramen, and followed Ayame to the front of the stand.

"Oh, it's you guys!" The surprised waitress exclaimed. She put her two bowls on the counter and turned to Rue. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Rue put her bowl in front of Naruto, happy for a small smile that she earned from him, before turning to Ayame, shrugging and signing, "How?"

Since she started helping at the Ichiraku two weeks ago she showed Ayame and Teuchi some basic handsigns, like 'how', 'how many', 'what' and all the 'hi's and such, writing down their meaning, but that was it. Ichiraku didn't have head start like shinobi, who were taught some handsigns in the academy, nor had they time to learn. They weren't Naruto, who could pull an all-nighter to study so he could talk with her freely. When Ayame and Teuchi wanted to talk with her some more she was writing her answers.

Well… now that she thought about it, she could have written down that it was Naruto and the rest… oh well…

"You just came back?" Asked Ayame turning back towards the Team 7.

"Straight from the Hokage office," nodded Sakura.

"So how did it go? You made it?"

So they started talking. That is, Sakura started. Naruto and Sasuke only added a note or two here or there. Even when she came to the parts when she wasn't present, like their fight with the missing-nins or Naruto's infiltration their input was minimal.

When the pinkette reached the ambush on the bandits, she hesitated. For a moment nobody spoke, and Rue was about to ask what was wrong, but then Naruto said that "we took care of them". Sakura glanced at him and nodded, before continuing. When she reached the ship that this Gato was supposed to be on she repeated this. "Zabuza took care of them". Rue didn't ask about specifics. She could imagine them. She saw them. When the bandits captured her and her mother. When they were being held. When Naruto rescued her. She still remembered. She was dreaming. She couldn't forget. Never.

When Sakura ended they were silent for a few seconds. The only thing they heard were the sounds of Naruto eating his fourth bowl, before he looked up between the bites, "So, how did you end up working here Little One?"

Rue hesitated. She couldn't tell him the truth! Thankfully, before she could come up with something, Ayame spoke, "She was bored. She had almost nothing to do after the Academy, so little by little she started to help me."

"So how much of a trouble is she to you?" Naruto asked with the corner of his lips rose.

Rue pouted at him. Normally she would add a jab at his side, but unfortunately she couldn't reach him over the counter.

"No, she is really helpful!" Ayame assured, "They're even some shinobi that came here especially for her. They think she is cute."

"Cute, huh?" Mused Naruto with a ghost of a smirk on his face, "That's strange…"

Rue's pout, that disappeared when Ayame was praising her, came back with a renewed strength. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

His smirk grew a fraction before he asked, "So you still don't have any friends from your class?"

She shocked her head. "No, I got to know one girl. Her name is M-O-E-G-I." She had to spell it. She still hadn't come up with a handsign for her name, and even if she did, Naruto would not recognize it. "But lately she was spending most of her time with her friend. Hokage's grandson. He's preparing something for the festival next week."

"Oh, I can't wait for the festival," Sakura meddled in, "I wasn't on the last one because I was visiting my family outside the village with my parents."

Rue looked down. Family wasn't the happiest topic for her. The only one she knew about was someone in the south-west part of the Fire Country, and she didn't even know who.

"What about you Rue-chan? You're coming to the festival, right?"

Rue, glad for the change of topic, looked at Naruto with question in her eyes. The redhead rose an eyebrow. "You want to go, Little One?" She nodded vigorously, smiling shyly at him. Naruto sighed and turned to his female teammate, "Sakura, are you going to the festival?"

Sakura huffed, "I just said that I'm going! You should listen when somebody is talking to you!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry," Naruto shrugged, not looking especially sorry, "Are you going with someone then?"

The pinkette glanced quickly at Sasuke before focusing on Naruto, "Yeah, I was supposed to meet with Ino, why?"

"Ino?" Naruto asked in surprise, "Weren't you in a feud or something like that? You know, the biggest cat fight in the village?"

Sakura glared and tried to punch him, but he leaned back. "It's not a cat fight, baka!" She yelled at him. Then she saw his amused smirk and scowled at him, "You're doing it on purpose, don't you?"

Naruto didn't look like he thought he had to answer to that question.

Sakura took a deep breath before she spoke again, "We were ARGUING," she glared at the redhead, daring him to say something, "but we talked a few weeks ago and decided that as long as Sasuke-kun isn't around, we can be friends."

Rue looked at the Uchiha, but he didn't hear a thing. At least he was acting like as if he didn't hear a thing.

"Can you take Rue with you?" Naruto asked, getting back to the topic at hand. Rue's head whirled to him. "If Ino don't mind of course."

"Why? I thought that you will take her with you." Sakura said with a frown.

"I can't. I'm not going to the festival."

Rue was a bit disappointed. She really wanted to go with him. She liked Sakura, she really did, but it just wouldn't be the same. But she knew that he couldn't take her. The apologetic look that he sent her told her that he would take her if he could. He didn't apologize very often.

"Why?"

"I have something to do. I won't be in the village for a few days." The pinkette opened her mouth. "Don't ask, I won't tell."

Sakura huffed again and said, "Of course, I'll gladly take you Rue-chan. We still have to ask Ino, but I'm sure that once she'll see you she'll agree." She frowned for a second before she asked, "You don't have kimono, don't you, Rue-chan?" The girl nodded. Sakura knew her wardrobe better than Rue herself. It was Sakura that took her shopping few days after she arrived to Konoha with Naruto. "Tell you what. I was going to find Ino tomorrow and drag her for a shopping spree. How about you come with us?"

"Oh, I know a great shop!" Ayame exclaimed, "They have those beautiful kimonos! It's just a few streets from here!"

This started a long chat about clothes, which then changed through food, academy stories, boys. Rue really couldn't understand why Sakura had that strange look on her face when she asked if she liked some boy. Of course, she liked Naruto, and Sasuke, even if he was always so closed (Naruto was different, he was quiet, but when she asked he always responded and explained everything), and even that Koi boy at the academy that always made her laugh, but it didn't seem like what Sakura was asking about.

"No, I didn't mean it like that," the pinkette said when she told her that, "I mean do you like someone like LIKE, you know…"

"Ok, that's enough, before you corrupt her," Naruto interrupted, ending his quiet muttering with Sasuke, "Little One, when is the end of your shift?" He asked, ignoring Sakura's offended look.

Rue looked up at the sky. "I still have…" she started, but was interrupted by Ayame.

"She has ended her shift half an hour ago." Rue looked at the waitress with wide eyes. The older girl winked at her. "Go, Rue-chan. There is no crowd today."

For a moment she wanted to argue, but she already knew that face on the waitress face. If she wanted, Ayame could be really stubborn (and scary, with that big, wooden spoon of hers). So with a resigned smile she nodded and turned to Naruto.

"I'll be right back."

She rushed to the back of the stand, taking the small apron off and grabbing her jacket. Inside the stand it was warm, sometimes even too much, what with all the cooking, but it's already getting dark outside, and it was already October.

She came back, only to find a few empty bowls on the counter. She went outside to find out that Sasuke was already gone. Naruto and Ayame were waiting for her and Sakura was a few feet from them, walking away.

"Tomorrow at eight, Rue-chan" The pinkette shouted with a wave.

Rue smiled and waved back before turning to Ayame and Naruto. "Goodbye, Ayame," she signed.

"See you soon, Rue-chan," the waitress responded.

Naruto crouched in front of the little girl, but she shocked her head, knowing that thanks to his sixth sense he would feel it. When he turned to her she signed, "I can go on my own."

"You sure you won't trip over some chimney?" He asked. She glared at him, feeling the heat rushing to her cheeks. He just had to remind her about this! "Ok, ok, I didn't say anything," he said, rising his hands in defense, though he didn't even try to hide his smirk. "Goodnight, Neechan."

They jumped up and through the roofs. Rue loved this. Konoha looked beautiful in the dark, lighted by the countless lamps. And she, jumping over the river of light through the darkness, like on a skyward shadow road. It always made her feel free and happy.

She glanced at Naruto. His presence was making her happy too. And safe. Whenever he was around she always had this feeling that someone was watching over her. He wasn't openly showing his concern. He wasn't fussing over her. But even now she could tell that he was going slower than normally. It was subtle, someone who didn't know him could tell that it was because he was tired from the mission, or even not notice at all, but she knew that he was making sure that she could keep up, while trying to not show up that he was waiting for her.

It was then that she realized that she was wrong. She had a family. Blood relations didn't matter.

They reached their apartment in few minutes. Naruto opened the chakra lock on the window. It wasn't anything special, any Genin with basic chakra control could pick it in twenty seconds, but for civilians it was impenetrable. Not counting smashing the window of course … or the door … or the wall.

"Shower and go to sleep. It's late." Rue smiled slightly. Maybe a bit colder, but it sounded exactly like something her mother would have said.

When she came out of the shower ten minutes later, drying her short, grey hair with a towel, she found Naruto in the living room, with his bag half unpacked, looking at the wall on the opposite side with a distant look. She quietly sat next to him and touched his hand gently. When he looked at her, she asked, "Is something wrong?"

Naruto went back to unpacking, unsealing, checking, and sealing again his weapons, supplies and clothes. He was silent for a minute before he spoke, "Why do you ask?"

Rue shrugged. "I don't know. You looked kind of..." She hesitated, looking for a good wor… sign. "…guilty…"

He looked at her strangely. After a few seconds she fidgeted under his gaze, but he only smiled slightly. "Sometimes I forget how smart you are." Rue blushed brilliantly. From someone else it would be a great compliment. From Naruto… it was more than she ever expected. "Don't worry. It's nothing."

Rue nodded. She was actually expecting this. But Naruto never pressed her, so she said exactly what he said when he found her crying on her father's birthday: "You don't have to tell me now. Take your time. I'll wait."

Naruto chuckled quietly, ruffling her hair playfully, before taking another t-shirt.

Something fell on the floor and rolled to Rue's feet. She leaned and picked it up. It was a scroll, totally normal, apart from one thing: it had Kiri symbol on it. There was a note attached to it, but before she could read it Naruto took the scroll from her hands.

She was observing his face as he first read the note and the unrolled the scroll. She could understand the surprise that she noticed at first, but she didn't quite recognize what appeared later. It almost looked like… amusement.

She also didn't understand his next words:

"You're welcome, Zabuza"

{11}

**Hey there! Long time no see!**

**I'm sorry that I was gone for so long, but I'm affraid that it is going to be normal from now on. I graduated from high school, started university, found a job, and between that and milion other things I really don't have much free time to write. I almost forgot about this story, writing just few words here or there, until certain someone kicked me in the ass and told me to MOVE IT with this chapter.**

**As for the chapter, there isn't much to discuss here. I know that Sasuke seems a bit OOC at the begining, but I just can't believe that he could go through the life without even THINKING about befriending someone. We know that in the manga he kept to himself, being the 'avenger', but he had to at least entertain the thought of having a... an acquaitance.**

**What happens to Zabuza and Haku? Sorry, you will have to wait and see. The same goes for the scroll at the end.**

**The next chapter will be about... well, whoever quess will get a cookie. Though it shouldn't be too hard.**

**Thanks for reading,**

_**Aiedaill**_

**Ps: Special thanks to Faroffinho for Beta Reading, construcive criticism, overall help and the boost to my ego :D**


	12. 12 - Just Another Year

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Naruto. And no, I'm not giving Rue to anyone. Don't even ask.**

**{12}**

"Oh come on, you have to go!"

"Really? I didn't remember such an order."

"Why you don't want to go?"

"Because I don't."

"Please, Narutoooo."

"I have something to do."

"What?"

"Something."

"~sigh~ Can't you do this 'something' later?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because I can't. Because I don't want to. Because it's a waste of time. Because it's annoying. Because you're starting to annoy me. Pick one."

"What Is going on?"

Naruto and Sakura turned towards their teammate who just landed next to them. Sasuke changed his usual white shorts into long black pants and wore a matching long-sleeve jacket. It was getting colder and colder every day. Naruto took to wearing his cloak on a daily basis, and Sakura changed her biker shorts for leggings and wore a long sleeved red shirt underneath her dress. They could of course keep warm using chakra, but it was like holding a small weight on an outstretched arm. At first it was nothing, but after a whole day it was taking its toll on their chakra reserves.

Well.. on Sakura and Sasuke's reserves. Naruto didn't really see the difference.

"Naruto is being an idiot." Sakura responded, exasperated.

Sasuke glanced at the redhead before turning back to her with a puzzled expression. "That's something new?" Naruto glared at him, but he just shrugged with a twinkle of amusement in his onyx eyes. "What it is this time?"

"He doesn't want to go to the festival."

"Why?"

"He won't tell."

Sasuke looked at Naruto with a rose eyebrow. The redhead just shrugged and muttered, "I have something to do."

"Oh, come on, Narutooo!" Sakura whined, "I'm sure Rue-chan would love to go."

"And she is going. With you, if I remember correctly."

"But she would love to go with you!" She insisted, but Sasuke stopped her with a wave.

"Leave him."

Sakura turned to him with her 'kicked-puppy' look. "Sasuke-kun! We were supposed to meet with the others, catch up with our classmates."

"If he doesn't want to go then you won't persuade him." Sasuke responded, stuffing his hands in his pockets, totally unaffected by her betrayed glare. "And now that you mentioned the others, it is even less likely."

Sakura huffed, but before she could say anything else Sasuke added, "Come on, we should start."

Their started their morning run. They were sprinting through the whole training ground, running through clearings and forest alike, trying to move undetected and stay quiet. Naruto of course didn't have any problems with that. Even at full speed they were losing sight of him and they weren't sure whether it was him or the wind that was making the noise.

Sasuke wasn't bad. He was still forgetting that every time he touched something it was making a sound, and had a tendency to swat aside branches and leaves instead of passing them by, but he was quite hard to spot, especially now, without his bright white shorts to give him in.

Sakura was the opposite. Her pink hair and bright clothes didn't help her in stealth operations. Coupled with the fact that she seemed to lack this feline grace, this ability to move with your surrounding that Naruto and Sasuke possessed, she was pretty easy to see. She was trying to counter it with a widespread genjutsu, but it was giving her away if someone felt it, and such technique, not concentrated on specific person but affecting everyone around, was very taxing on her chakra reserves, small to begin with. But she could be very quiet, so quiet that she didn't have problems with sneaking on Sasuke…

"… we could meet with the others. I'm sure that Rue-chan would love to…"

… at least when she tried. Today she seemed hell bent on announcing to everyone around where she is. What other reason could she have to keep pestering him if he already said that he won't go?

It wasn't that he wouldn't like to go. He would gladly take Rue to a festival, partly because he knew how happy it would make her, partly for those few hours of forgetfulness when all his problems and worries would go away. But not in Konoha. Anywhere else, yes, but in Konoha, no. He knew that his presence would only lead to violence.

After all it was on this day that he killed for the first time.

Sakura continued to pester him as they started stretching. He was starting to became grudgingly impressed – she was coming up with new and new reasons without repeating herself – when he suddenly rose his hand in a 'silence' handsign. She saw on his face that he wasn't just shushing her because he was annoyed. She saw that emotionless mask slipping over his face.

"Someone is coming."

{12}

Naruto entered into a room and frowned. When the chuunin dropped into their training ground and told him that he was requested in the Academy, not really hiding his look of unaltered hatred, his mind immediately whirled with possible reasons. Naruto's thoughts were ranging from stupid ones about Council finding a way to send him back to the academy and under their jurisdiction, to his constant fear that somebody found out about his relationship with Rue and hurt her.

By the time he reached the Academy his mind went back to that night when he found Shiho-nee, only this time he saw Rue, crying soundlessly in the…

But when he opened the door to the classroom that he was supposed to go to he didn't see any hate filled looks or weapons or blood or crying mutilated girls. True, Rue was there, but she was just sitting on the desk in the front row, swinging her legs with that innocent air around her that only little girls could pull off. She seemed totally unaware, or rather ignoring, the glare that was directed at her from one Umino Iruka, who was standing in front of the teacher's desk with his arms crossed on his chest.

When Naruto opened the door inside the classroom they both turned towards him. Not that he himself made any sound upon entering, but he realized long ago that it was almost impossible to enter any room without a sound. He may have not made a sound, but there always was a background noise – someone talking down the hall, noises in other classrooms, even the wind that was coming through the windows. It was almost nothing, but it was all it took for someone alert enough.

"Hello Iruka, you summoned me?" Naruto asked, dragging the teachers' attention away from Rue, who brightened at his sight. He would have to talk with her about this. They had to keep appearances, especially now, with the festival so close. Maybe he was a bit over paranoid, Iruka was after all the only teacher that was fair to him, and most people didn't see what they didn't expect to see. Still, at times like this the young genin really wanted to be rather safe than sorry.

The chuunin sighed. "It's Iruka-sen…" he stopped mid-word before chuckling quietly, "I guess I don't have to correct you anymore." The corner of Naruto's lips threatened to rise. No matter how many times Iruka tried, he called him 'sensei' only twice.

With a shrug the redhead asked, "So, what is it about?"

Iruka turned back to his little student with a scornful look. "This little lady, along with another boy, got into a fight with three other students. They are still in the infirmary, two of them unconscious."

Naruto frowned. A fight… a fight between academy students... they were training to become Shinobi, and yet they were making a fuss over a fight. Naruto weren't sure whether he should cry or laugh.

But this still didn't answer the question...

"Okayyyy… and what I have to do with this?"

"Well, normally we wouldn't bother you, but since one of the boys received a slight concussion," Rue looked down with a sheepish expression, "we had to summon Rue's guardian."

The temperature in the room dropped as Naruto pinned the chuunin with an icy look. Despite the fact that he was taller, ten years older and a teacher, Iruka couldn't suppress a slight shudder when he saw this look.

"And how do you know that I'm Rue's guardian?" Naruto asked, trying to keep his tone even, but there was an undertone of threat in it.

Iruka's eyes widened a bit, but he quickly composed himself. "Don't worry, I'm the only one who knows here. Hokage-sama told me in case of an emergency."

"And you call this an emergency?" Naruto's undertone of anger becoming more prominent with every word spoken.

"Well… uh, maybe I shouldn't have…"

Naruto shock his head, cutting him off. It wasn't Iruka's fault. Well, not only. The Old Man had to tell somebody at the Academy - though Naruto would've appreciate it if he would ask him first – but he surely didn't impress on Iruka how much Naruto wanted to keep it a secret. He didn't know that Naruto was always making sure that nobody saw them coming into the apartment. That he was making sure that there were always his teammates around whenever he was with Rue in public, so that it would look like she was clinging to all three of them, not just him - it wouldn't look strange for the little girl to cling to her three 'saviors'.

But should someone connect the fight between some students and the fact that 'the Demon' was summoned to the Academy…

"Don't worry Naruto, she's safe here…" Iruka tried to reassure him, but Naruto interrupted, his death glare intensifying.

"Shiho-nee was safe too, right?" he spat. The chuunin's eyes widened. They didn't know what really happened to Naruto's foster sister. All that the academy knew was that one day she came to the class with a dead look in her eyes.

And not a month later she was dead.

Not wanting to answer any questions about Shiho, Naruto turned to Rue, who was observing them with wide green eyes.

"Hey, Little One, what is it all about? Who started this fight?"

She didn't look like she wanted to talk about this right now, but she relented under his frown. "They were making fun of me," she signed, "We were out practicing kunai throwing, and they started laughing and taunting me…"

"And you attacked them?" Naruto asked, out loud and through the handsigns. "What did I tell you about picking fights?" Rue looked down, "You were supposed to settle it subtly, not when everybody is looking."

"I wanted to," She exclaimed, as much as you can exclaim through handsigns, while they both totally ignored Iruka's sputtering. "I was going to ignore them, but that other boy," she used a handsign that Naruto didn't know. It reminded him of 'Konoha'… and maybe something from 'monkey'? "…started to yell at them to leave me alone."

"And they started fighting and you decided that you can't let your prince in the shining armor fight alone," Naruto ended for her. She blushed and pouted at him, but before she could sign anything Iruka finally found his voice back.

"Naruto! What are you teaching her?! She can't…!"

"She is going to be a kunoichi," Naruto interrupted coldly, "I'm not saying that she should settle everything with her fists, but she can't be afraid to use force. Or maybe in the future she should run to the Hokage whenever someone threatens her?" He paused for a few seconds, but Iruka didn't answer. "Though," he finally said, turning to Rue, "I thing that she used too much force. Concussion?"

The little girl looked at him sheepishly, and he was sure that if she did not need her hands to speak, she would have scratched the back of her head. "I think I hit him a bit too hard," She shrugged and added, "He surprised me."

Naruto rose an eyebrow. "Surprised you?"

She fidgeted on her desk, looking embarrassed, "He was standing to the side. He wasn't laughing at me with the other two. He only joined when it all started and I… over reacted."

Naruto sighed and turned to Iruka. "What happens to her now?"

The teacher thought for a second. "Well, she wasn't the one that instigated the whole thing, she was only helping Konohamaru, so I think that a warning would be enough... and it won't happen again, right?" Rue nodded eagerly under his narrowed eyes.

"Hmmm… you think it would be a problem if I take her for today?" Naruto asked.

"Well, we still have taijutsu practice later, and a bit of history about Second Shinobi War, but I don't think that it'd be a problem for her if she misses them. Why?"

Naruto allowed a tiny smirk to appear on his face. "Well, it looks like she has too much energy in those little fists," his smirk widened when he saw the wary look that Rue send him, "I'll give her something to use it on."

{12}

"…no place for fear in a fight. I'm not saying that you can't feel fear. Only an… left palm an inch higher."

Rue, covered in sweat, dirt and bruises, nodded and attacked, punching him in the guts with her right arm while simultaneously trying to grab him with her left.

"Only an idiot or a psychopath wouldn't be afraid of a fight. But you can't let your fear control you. If you let it affect you, you'll be too afraid to attack, because you may make a mistake…"

Naruto sidestepped both hands, outstretching his leg and adjusting her left foot so it was a bit wider, lowering her weight center.

"…you won't use an opening, cause it may be a trap. And that will be your end."

Naruto jumped back, disengaging from the girl before he asked, "Where are Sasuke and Sakura?"

Rue didn't look around. "Sakura is at four, reading. Sasuke at five, sharpening weapons."

Naruto nodded before asking again, "Tree on your seven. How many birds are on it?"

Rue frowned slightly before she answered, "Three."

"Four. One is hidden behind the leaves on the left."

The little girl pouted, "That's not fair. You are using your sixth..." She hesitated, looking for a proper sign.

"Life is not fair. You should know that better than anyone." Naruto felt a stab of guilt when sadness appeared in her eyes, but he already decided that tip-toeing around it will not help her. "This is a fight, Little One. I'm your enemy. I have to defeat you, cause my only other option lies six feet under the ground. I will use everything, every advantage, every opportunity, every weakness. If it means that I have to use a Change to look like your father, then I will."

Rue hung her head, looking down at her feet. Naruto gave her a moment, but when after a ten second she still didn't look up, he sighed soundlessly, darted forward and swept at her legs, making sure to go slow enough for her to react. Had she been watching him, that is.

"So, what did you learn today?" he asked, with the corner of his mouth risen, as he watched her turn on her back and sit up, groaning soundlessly.

"Never hesitate. Don't look away from your opponent. You are mean," She signed, glaring at him.

"Oh, stop it Rue-chan. You're making me blush." Naruto coed girlishly, bringing a hand to his cheek.

Rue tried to maintain her glare, but she lost the fight with a wide grin that forced itself on her face. Naruto let his hand fall, revealing a small smirk, before he turned towards the village. "Someone is coming."

He felt how Rue shifted into a position which allowed her to move faster, how one of Sakura's hands left her book and strayed towards her hip pouch. He heard how Sasuke's whetstone slowed.

Judging by the position of the sun it was probably Kakashi. Probably. But still... safe than sorry.

It looked like his paranoia rubbed off on his teammates.

The figure disappeared and they all felt a pulse of chakra as Kakashi appeared in front of them, "Yo!"

"You're late," Sakura deadpanned, standing up and putting her book in her waist pouch.

"Maa, maa, I'm sorry," Kakashi responded with an eye-smile, not sounding sorry at all. "I saw a black cat on..."

"Don't lie," Naruto interrupted, "'Icha Icha' is on sale."

Kakashi's eye widened slightly, while Sakura glared at him, huffing in a righteous feminine fury. The jounin seemed at a loss of words, before his eye narrowed. "You know Naruto, sometimes I can't help but wonder. How do you know those things?"

Sakura quickly caught up, turning her burning green eyes on Naruto, but the redhead only smirked, "Cause yesterday a few Academy students," Rue shifted from one foot to the other, "pranked certain perverts who were getting a bit too excited about it."

Kakashi's eye widened again, this time with a hint of nervousness in it, "Ebisu and Hiroe... it was your work?" He asked, turning to Rue.

The grey haired girl shrugged, "It was," the handsign she used in the Academy for the kid that helped her,"...idea."

"So what are we going to do today?" Sasuke interrupted, clearly impatient.

The jounin looked at them for a few more seconds before he finally concentrated and took out three scrolls. "We are working on chakra today," he said, tossing one scroll to each of the genins, "I showed you a few exercises to basic chakra control, and I hope that you're training," he threw a pointed look at Naruto who already sat under a three with a book in his hands, Rue leaned against him, taking out a book of her own. "I also showed you elemental manipulation, which allows you to use elemental chakra, basically changing properties of the chakra itself. It allows you to put more power in your techniques, or preserve your reserves, if you look at it from the other side. What I'm going to show you today is shape manipulation. As you can guess, you will use it to change the shape of your techniques, for example creating a small, precise attack, dividing your jutsu into few, or making it go around your opponent's defence."

"Wait a second," Sasuke interrupted, "I have to shape my chakra to use Phoenix Sage Fire. Is it something different?"

"No, that's shape transformation. At the rank of Jutsu you have access and your disposal, training shape or elemental manipulation is not required. The hand signs needed for the Jutsu are enough to use the Jutsu. The crux only appears when one seeks true mastery of his Jutsu. Let's take your Great Fireball Jutsu" said Kakashi. "You could demonstrate it"

Sasuke grunted and went through the needed hand seals. Sasuke took a deep breath and released an impressively large fireball, scorching the grass and the trees it collided with. Kakashi nodded. "I don't need to be a sensor to see, that you needed much less chakra than back when you graduated. Allow me now, to demonstrate the Jutsu"

Kakashi's pace of going through the hand seals was on a whole different level but the fireball was around the same size, maybe even smaller. Yet, the genin could feel the heat of the Jutsu and when the Jutsu collided with the trees, eating itself through the forest farther than Sasuke's fire jutsu could have hoped to. It flew much faster and left a trail in the earth. Naruto eyed their sensei suspiciously. "You weren't using that much more chakra than Sasuke, were you?".

"Correct. It was an estimation, how much chakra Sasuke actually pumped in, so it might be a bit off but my point is. My skill in elemental manipulation increased the heat and my shape manipulation increased the impact. There are a lot of things you can do with fire" The one eyed man focused now on Sakura. "With earth jutsu, you can increase the density of the rock or the viscosity of mud. Things like that, which will make it an important skill for you. The Earth Jutsu we have in Konoha are mostly either of a defensive or supporting nature. You already need a creative mind for Genjutsu so it would be good to use it on your Ninjutsu as well"

The pinkette nodded and Kakashi turned to Sasuke.

"For you it won't be something that you will use for quite some time. Lightning is very hard to control, and you won't start with the more advanced shape manipulations until you reach A, maybe B-ranked techniques. Shaping and directing it is not exactly the hardest thing, objectively looking, but controlling it, so that it won't dissipate or disperse every which way requires a lot of skill, in both manipulation."

Finally, the jounin turned to his last student. Naruto didn't look like he was listening at all, but Kakashi didn't looked like it bothered him. He was already used to the Uzumaki's antics. "You, Naruto, are on both sides of the scale in the same time," he spoke, "On one side, it would be easier for you than the others, since you already started. Even the most basic wind exercise requires you to shape your chakra. On the other hand, completely controlling wind element is impossible. You can direct it, you can compress it to some degree, but it will sooner blow up in your face than allow itself to be completely contained. Wind is tricky like that"

Naruto nodded slightly, half of his mind concentrated on the seal in front of him. _'How did they make it affect only one thing?'_

"What about fire?" Sasuke asked.

_'Pyro.'_

"And water," Naruto added. He didn't try anything with water element yet, but it would be good to get as much information as he could.

"Fire is pretty similar to lightning," Kakashi explained, "It's marginally easier to contain and shape, but they are on pretty much the same level (You think? I personally think fire is rather easy to shape . By the way, if your enemy is throwing at you controlled lightning or small, hot fireballs, that is your sign that he is highly skilled. As for the water, it's pretty easy to control, as long as you remember to go with its flow and to keep it moving. Water chakra that stops is damn hard to move and it takes a lot of time."

"Flow?" Sakura asked.

"You know…" Kakashi hesitated, looking for proper words.

"Like with the river," Naruto said, "Swimming with the river is easy, you can also swim to its side, but swimming against it, against its 'flow' is much harder."

Seeing Sakura nod in understanding Kakashi regarded the redhead with interest. "Have someone ever told you that you would make a great teacher?"

"Yes," the pinkette said before Naruto could answer.

"Okay then," said Kakashi after a few seconds of silence. "Well, let's move on. What I'm going to show you today is not exactly a standard exercise. Standard exercise consists of using your chakra to move patches of sand into certain shapes. But my cute little genin are too good for that," He put his hands on Sasuke and Sakura's heads. The Uchiha swatted at his arm, while Sakura just glared with a touch of resignation. "We are going to do something a bit different. It was actually my sensei that showed me this exercise," he took Sakura's scroll, "As I said, it's not a standard exercise, but I learned that it will teach you more," he unrolled the scroll, exposing a normal storage seal, before summoning a… balloon, "Your task is to burs the balloon"

He outstretched his arm with the balloon laying on his palm. As they watched the balloon started to distend, slowly, then faster, until it finally burst violently, splashing the water that was inside all around.

"You have to use your chakra to move the water inside, increasing the pressure inside," Kakashi explained, waving his hand to get rid of the water. "There are a few dozens of balloons in each scroll. Don't worry if you don't grasp it right away. It took me over a week to do this, and I had more training before than you. Now…" He clasped his hands, "…I have to go. Be good, work hard, and don't fight with other kids."

"Wait a second!" Sakura screamed as the jounin started to turn around, "You came late a few hours, gave us a new exercise and a half of an explanations and now you're leaving?!"

"It's because I believe in my kids," he responded with an eye-smile. Sakura didn't look impressed. "Look, it's the same as with the nature manipulation. I shouldn't have shown you this before you become chuunins. I started on your elemental training because I wanted to confirm my theory about Naruto…"

"And you wanted to give us something to do so we won't bug you about more training," Interrupted Naruto.

"…normally, your genin days would be spent on making soldiers out of you, on giving you a proper mind-set," Kakashi continued as if the redhead didn't say anything. Which, if you thought about it, wasn't really a denial, right? "You seem to already reach that level, that's why I decided to move on. But officially you are still genin, so…" he trailed off.

"Just admit that you found a new edition of your porn and can't wait to read it," Sasuke muttered.

"Come on, do you really think that it's all I do in my free time?" He received two blank looks and a teasing smirk.

"Well, you also go quite often to that tea shop," Naruto said. His smirk widened when he saw Kakashi's eye widened.

"Tea shop?" Sasuke asked with a rose eyebrow.

Naruto shrugged. "There is that rumour going that Copycat Kakashi fancy a certain brunette at a tea shop near the Kigitsu district."

"Rumour?" Kakashi asked.

"Gossip." Naruto confirmed, simultaneously informing the jounin that it wasn't anything bad, though he should watch out.

"So you're leaving us because of a girl?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"I…"

"Shouldn't a sensei put his students on the first place?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"It's a…"

"I hope that she is at least pretty…" Naruto thought out loud, with his own small smile.

"IF you have to know…" Kakashi said loudly, glaring at his amused students, "… there is a jounin meeting in half an hour."

"Which means that you still have at least two hours before you go, right?" Sakura asked with an innocent look on her face.

Kakashi grumbled something about 'ungrateful brats' before he turned around and jumped away.

"You really think that he has a meeting?" Sakura asked.

"Well, this didn't sound like his normal excuse," Naruto mused, "And the Chuunin Exams are coming. There would be a million and one thing to discuss, without even including the fact that Kakashi is our sensei."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, summoning a balloon from his scroll, "Let's get it over with."

{12}

Naruto quickly found another similarity between nature and shape manipulation.

It was hard, long and frustrating.

According to Kakashi, Sakura had near perfect control over her chakra, so it wasn't a surprise that it only took an hour for her balloon to start moving. Now, after three hours, it was rolling all over her palm. But it didn't look like what Kakashi has done. When the jounin demonstrated it, the balloon was spiking in every which way before it burst, while in Sakura's case it looked like the water was just rolling from side to side, distending in some kind of a weird disk.

Still, it was better than her teammates.

Sasuke's balloon was barely moving. No matter how hard he tried, or how much he glared at the balloon, it was just lightly twitching on his palm. His eyebrow was also twitching. Thanks Kami that he wasn't prone to losing his cool. Otherwise his mounting frustration would make him do even worse, which would only frustrate him even more, which would make him do even worse, and so on, and so on...

Really, it was a good thing that he wasn't easily frustrated. And that twitching eyebrow was just a sign of effort...

...

Naruto didn't have any problems with making the water move. Kakashi was right, his previous training gave him a huge head start. It only took him about half an hour to make the water move. But about an hour later, when he was reaching the level that Sakura was at now, he stumbled upon a problem. He destroyed his balloon. But not like Kakashi, when it was ripped apart from the inside pressure. It looked more like sliced with a kunai. It took two more destroyed balloons before he understood. He was unconsciously using wind chakra. His abnormally strong affinity, that allowed him to grasp everything wind related with insane ease, was now interfering when he was trying to do something non-wind related.

So, while normally shinobi had to learn how to use elemental chakra, Naruto now had to learn how to suppress it. And should he ever want to try another element, he would have to suppress his wind affinity and then add another.

One of his greatest strengths just became his weakness.

'_This is going to be a pain,' _Naruto thought while copying his teammate and glaring at the next water balloon.

He could really use something to release his frustration on now.

"Oh!"

*Splash*

"What the…?"

Naruto looked up. He was in the same place as when Kakashi leaved, sitting under a tree at the edge of the clearing, with Rue sitting at his side with a book in her hands. Sakura was few feet away, sitting high on a branch and looking down with a horrified expression. And Sasuke was sitting right under her…

…with wet hair and shoulders.

"I'm really sorry, Sasuke-kun, it slipped…"

Naruto started chuckling. It looked like Sakura lost control of her swaying balloon and it rolled of her hand, falling straight on Sasuke's head. His hair was dripping water, taming slightly his 'duck-butt' hairstyle, though it was still sticking up…

The redhead's chuckling quieted when an idea popped into his head, turning into a devilish grin.

"…I'm really sorry Sasuke-kun, I didn't mean…" Sakura stopped her feverish apology when another balloon collided with the side of the Uchiha's head.

"What the fuck?" Sasuke growled, turning to Naruto, who gave him a teasing smirk.

"Well, I definitely meant to" the redhead said, enjoying the sight of a twitching eyebrow. "Look at the bright side Sasuke! Now you don't have to worry about this month's shower anymore."

His teasing was working. He could almost see the fury in Sasuke's eyes as a vein started to pulse on his temple. But then the Uchiha closed his eyes and took a deep breath, visibly calming down. A smirk blossomed on his face as he opened his onyx eyes again.

"You know what that means, right, Dobe?" He asked quietly. Naruto would say that he sounded dangerous, if not for the note of humour in his voice.

"Come on, Teme, we both know that you won't be able to hit me." Naruto chirped in a taunting fashion.

"Oh really?"

Naruto caught the flying balloon, sending a mocking smirk at the Uchiha. He threw it back and quickly added another one.

"Come on Dobe, you can do better than that," Sasuke called, catching both colourful orbs and throwing them right back at his teammate. Naruto caught one and sidestepped the other, but he wasn't prepared for the third one. It slammed into his hand, drenching his left sleeve.

"You were saying?" The Uchiha mocked. Sasuke used one of the weaknesses of Naruto sixth sense. Flying objects were leaving a cone of disturbed air behind them. If you threw something in that cone it was hard for him to sense it, making the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu double as dangerous for him than for other people. And, as Sasuke pointed out a few times already, Naruto was depending on his sixth sense a bit too much. The not-so-at-the-moment-but-still-so duck butt haired teammate of his was right. Only because he hasn't met someone who can, or rather does since Kakashi probably could with ease, fully exploit his weaknesses doesn't mean that there aren't.

Still, this time the only consequence of his mistake was a wet sleeve, Naruto just grinned, rising a hand with a balloon. Sasuke smirked back at him, mirroring his movements.

"Guys! Stop!" Sakura yelled. They both turned towards the pinkette. "We were supposed to be training, not fighting like a five-year-old children." She swung her legs, preparing to jump down.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke. The Uchiha also turned to him. They exchanged matching, mischievous smirks.

*splash**splash* "Kyaaah!"

Two water filled balloons hit Sakura, one in her left shoulder, the second straight in her face. She had no chance to evade them. They threw them when she was mid-air. She could of course try to block them with her hands, if she had watched them that is.

She hadn't.

Silence fell upon the clearing. Aside from the initial scream Sakura didn't let out a sound. She hung her head, her expression hidden behind the veil of wet hair, water dripping form the pink ends. Naruto bend his knees in preparation. When the pinkette was screaming in rage, it was normal. Dangerous, especially for your ears, but normal. But when she became silent… it was time to start worrying.

Killing intent flooded the clearing.

Sakura rose her head. Her emerald eyes held a dangerous glint to them and she wore a smirk that looked strangely out of place on her normally kind face.

"Oh, you are going to regret that boys," she said … promised quietly.

Naruto ducked under the balloon. There was no point in trying to catch it. It was thrown with too much force for the thin fabric to handle any other kind of force. He sidestepped another balloon, stepping right in the path of the third one. The redhead turned to Sasuke, who was watching him with a teasing smirk… until he himself was hit in the arm courtesy of their female teammate.

Everything stopped. They stood in a perfect triangle, looking at each other with matching grins. Nobody moved a muscle. Everything went completely still. Even the birds stopped their songs and the wind quieted. It was as if the forest itself waited for the next move.

And, as if on some unspoken signal, they moved.

Naruto ducked under the oncoming balloons and then rolled to the side, evading the next one, hidden in the slipstream of the first one. _'I won't make that mistake twice,' _thought Naruto, catching another balloon and throwing it back at Sakura. The pinkette rolled back to avoid it and then pushed from the ground mid-roll to jump over the next balloon, allowing it to fly harmlessly beneath her.

Soon it became clear that they were too far from each other. Balloon were not kunai. It created too much air resistance. It was too easy to avoid. So they came closer. It made the game much more exciting. They had much less time for reaction.

Soon they were wet from head to toe, though Naruto fared a bit better than his two teammates. His sixth sense gave him an unfair advantage. But as he said to Rue earlier, there was no such thing as a fair fight. Unfortunately his teammates seemed to know it too cause they ganged up on him, making sure that he was between them all the time and pinning him under a constant fire, pushing him to defence.

"What's wrong Naruto? Why are you not attacking?" Asked Sasuke as the redhead ducked under two balloons, sidestepped another one, caught the fourth and jumped over the last two. He sealed the caught orb. You should never hesitate to attack, but you should also know when to attack and when to wait.

But it quickly became obvious that they would not let him attack. He had to get out from under their onslaught. He jumped to the side. His teammates moved as well, not allowing him to escape, but the slight lull in their attack gave Naruto enough time to create two water clones. They jumped at Sasuke and Sakura, taking their onslaught on themselves, allowing the redhead to jump into the forest and disappear between the trees.

It was the testament to the force behind their throws when both clones dispelled upon being hit by the balloons.

"Wait, don't!" Sakura yelled when Sasuke moved to follow Naruto, "We won't find him there. It would be a death trap."

She was right. Thanks to Kakashi's training and Naruto's tips Sasuke and Sakura were much better at stealth and observation than some chuunins, but they still were no match for their redhead teammate.

"Damn it," Sasuke cursed, "I guess the next move is his."

Naruto also cursed. He was hoping that at least Sasuke would jump after him. Well, whatever. He had to think what to do now. There was no point in throwing balloons at them. They moved to the middle of the clearing, so they would have a lot of time to react. He could of course spawn a few dozens of water clones, but it seemed like a bit of an overkill to him. This wasn't a fight to death after all. So, he needed a distraction… or a partner.

Suppressing a grin Naruto sneaked towards Rue position. The little girl was no longer reading a book. Instead she was hiding behind a tree, watching the clearing with a smile on her face and anticipation in her eyes.

Naruto crouched behind the grey-haired girl and whispered.

"Little One." Rue turned around with wide eyes. "Two on one is a little unfair, don't you think?" The girl answering grin could only be described as devious. Was it weird that Naruto's chest swelled with pride? Nah, it probably just told him he did something right. "Come."

They both sneaked deeper into the forest. There Naruto took out another storage scroll and sealed inside around three dozen balloons.

"Come on Dobe! Are you going to hide all day?" They heard Sasuke scream.

He gave Rue the scroll and whispered, "Go to the other side of the clearing. Throw when they turn to me. Then it's up to you."

The girl nodded and went away, still with that adorable smirk of a little devil. She was getting better Naruto noted, as he observed her progress. He could still see her, obviously, but still, she was good. Definitely better than an Academy student.

When Rue got into position Naruto unsealed five balloons. He put three on the ground of himself, took two in his hands, took a deep breath…

And started throwing.

"Sasuke-kun! Watch out!" Sakura called, jumping to the side. She ducked under another balloon and threw her own at Naruto, but it looked like she was aiming blind, cause it flew two feet to the left of his position. Sasuke on the other hand must have noticed him, cause his aim was true. Naruto caught this balloon and then ducked, hiding inside the bush. In the same moment he heard three splashes.

"Naruto! Clones are not fair!" Sakura yelled.

The redhead stuck out his head and yelled back, "There is no such thing as a fair fight, Sakura!" Honestly, how many times he had to repeat this? Was there a seal to record his wisdom so he didn't have to repeat it all the time? It would probably be wind based and …. "But I'm not actually using clones," he pointed to the place where Rue was before.

The pinkette looked at the tree in confusion before her eyes widened. "Rue-chan! How could you?!" She called in a hurt tone of voice.

"Well, I guess she likes me more than you," Naruto teased and ducked under the oncoming projectiles. He quickly moved away when another balloon flew into the bushes.

Knowing that this trick won't work on them anymore Naruto quickly came up with another idea. He started sneaking towards his accomplice. He reached her just in time to see a balloon tear through the branches and hit her in the left arm. Her hair was also wet. Naruto quickly grabbed her and used substitution with a log on the other side of the clearing, rescuing her from a few more balloons that flew through the leaves.

"What happened," he signed.

"I don't know," she responded, "They must have saw me and started throwing through the branches."

Naruto nodded. "Okay. I have another idea. Take as many balloons as you can carry and throw them in front of me. You don't have to throw them hard, just so that they are in front of me."

The girl nodded, unsealing a few balloons and throwing taking them into her arms. Naruto unsealed a few more and put them on the pile in her hands. He then started making handseals.

Rue tossed the balloons. As soon as they were in the air Naruto used Wind Style: Gale Palm to propel them forward. The multi-coloured orbs flew much faster than when they threw them themselves. In addition to the number of the flying projectiles, it was impossible for Sasuke and Sakura to evade them. Naruto grinned when he heard numerous splashes from the clearing and felt the balloons connect with his teammates. He turned to Rue with a smirk…

…which disappeared when he felt something fly towards them. And it wasn't a balloon.

A kunai stuck into a tree next to them.

"Fuck," Naruto cursed seeing a tag attached to it, but it was too late.

The tag exploded in a burst of light and sound. It was one of the ones that Naruto improved, adding noise to the standard flesh. The ringing in his ears attested to the fact that it worked pretty damn good.

In the next moment he was hit by three balloons in quick succession, He quickly pushed the ringing in his head and concentrated on his sixth sense. Sasuke and Sakura were up on the trees and he could feel even more orbs in the air. He quickly reached towards Rue. Two more balloons hit him before he managed to use Substitution.

The game continued for about an hour. They tried many tricks to drench each other even more than they already were. Sakura tried her luck at sneaking up on him using a genjutsu. She did pretty good, but her illusion couldn't replicate his sixth sense. She just couldn't know what it felt like. Sasuke used himself as a bait and then quickly used Substitution to surprise them. Naruto used Change to look like Kakashi and walked straight into the clearing. Sasuke recognized it, but he was too late. The redhead managed to get a good hit on them before running into the forest again. It was then that Naruto noticed that the Uchiha was using his clan's doujutsu, Sharingan. It was how he managed to find Rue when she was sneaking through the bush. He was trying to pin Naruto with it as well, but he only managed to drench a fox that wandered around.

Naruto was crouching in the brush, trying to come up with some plan to draw his teammates between a few traps that he set up when he sensed someone coming. He sneaked closer to the tree line and watched as a tall figure jumped down from the trees.

It was Kakashi.

The jounin took into the sight; many destroyed balloons scattered around the ground, a scorched tree on the right (Sasuke using a wrong tag or going a little overboard, Naruto wasn't sure which) and two of his genins standing in the middle of the clearing, wet from head to toe, each holding a balloon in their hands and discussing something quietly.

"Ummm… what is going on?" Kakashi asked, coincidentally using exactly the same words that Naruto used when he was impersonating him.

Sasuke and Sakura both turned towards him… and threw their balloons.

The jounin must not have expect it at all, cause he didn't even try to avoid them. Both of the liquid filled orbs hit him straight in the face, drenching his face, mask, shoulders and hair. Somehow his gravity-defying hairstyle reminded unchanged, despite the water dripping from it.

"Come on Naruto, do you really think that you can trick us with that again?" Sakura scowled.

Naruto walked out, suppressing an urge to burst out laughing. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop the corner of his lips from rising as he spoke, "Ummm… guys?" His teammates turned towards him, "That's not me this time."

His smile widened to smirk in the same time as Sakura's eyes widened in realization. Sasuke just looked resigned as he slowly turned to his sensei.

"Kakashi?"

The jounin scowled at them, pinning them under his one eyed glare. "I'm sure that there is a good explanation to this, right?"

Naruto couldn't help himself. He knew that it would only make things worse. They were already in deep shit, judging by Kakashi's face. But he really couldn't help it.

He finally burst out laughing.

{12}

'_They started early this year,' _Naruto thought, _'it's not even four yet.'_

A dozen or so villagers were going down the street. They were quite drunk, judging by their swaying walk and slurred speech as they loudly asked everyone whether they saw 'this cursed Demon' lately.

Normally the mobs wouldn't start to gather before seven or even eight in the afternoon. Though on the other hand three years ago they tried to catch him the day before, so maybe he shouldn't say it as if it was a rule. They were only civilians so he didn't have any problems in escaping them, but they have found his apartment and trashed it. He had to move out.

The best way of learning is to learn from errors. Naruto learned to start hiding few days before the festival.

It was saying something about your life if the day you hated the most was your birthday. Though Naruto had some perfectly good reasons to hate that day. Chronologically looking, it was that day that his parents died and Kyuubi was sealed inside him. It was the day that marked his first visit in the hospital, cause the patrons in the orphanage went a little overboard and were afraid that he would die… or rather that were afraid of Hokage's punishment. _Totally coincidentally _it was also the day that he was poisoned for the first time. It was also on that day that he was thrown out of the orphanage… though on the other hand it was actually a good thing. It was on that day that he first saw someone die because of him, when a drunk villager tried to follow him through the roofs and fell. And a year later he saw how much it cost to be with him, when a mob chased him and Shiho-nee away from the Ichiraku, destroying their stand in the process, and then killed a foreign merchant that tried to defend them, barely even noticing as they trampled him.

And it was a day that he felt his loneliness the most.

Once he learned why they were so much more aggressive on this day he started to get out of everyone's way when the festival came closer. When Shiho-nee was still alive she was spending those days with him, despite how much he tried to persuade her out of it, but with her… gone, he was all alone. He even got out of the village twice. He probably should have tell somebody that nobody was guarding the sewers, but something stopped him. Maybe it was just his paranoia, maybe it was something else.

Right now he was sitting high on a tree, hidden by the leaves. They were all yellow and brown, but they still covered him very well. Damn, the civilians wouldn't even be able to climb that high, and Naruto learned long ago that not many looked up.

He looked down. A young boy, maybe six-year-old, was running, screaming and laughing, away from a man who was wearing a mask and had his hands over his head. The kid grabbed a mask from a stand nearby, put it on, turned around and charged. The man feigned fear and started running away, making sure to not go too fast. The boy followed him, not looking at anything else and almost bumping into a few people. He continued his charge, roaring in his childish voice… until he tripped and introduced his face to the ground.

A young woman ran over to the kid. She picked him up, rose his mask and wiped something from his face before lowering his mask again and pointing at the man that was standing a few feet away. The boy charged again, and the woman watched him for a few seconds with a fond smile, before she turned to the stand with masks and paid the merchant for the one that her son took.

Naruto wondered what his mother would do in a situation like that. Would she smile at him fondly and just pay for the mask? Or would she scold him for taking something without asking and make him give it back, apologizing to the merchant? Or maybe she would pretend that she didn't notice, glad to save some money? Would his father play with him? Or maybe he was the stern type, like…

'_Stop it, Naruto!' _He ordered himself, _'Your parents are dead… or maybe not, maybe it was just a lie so that you won't learn that your mother was a prostitute and your father was an idiot that knocked her up and either don't know that you even exist or didn't have the balls to acknowledge you. That they let Yondaime take you, so that they don't have to take care of you. You don't know. And you will never know! There is no point in 'what if's, so don't do this to yourself, idiot!'_

Many of the street runts were like that. Fantasizing about their parents, imagining that they were someone important, that they leaved them because they had to, because there was no other way. Hoping that one day they would find them and take them away from the streets. From this disgusting gutter that was their life, where they had to fight for every scrap of food, where they had to sleep in the sewers so that they won't freeze in the winter. They stayed in their little imagined worlds, living from day to day, just existing. And they died, because if you don't take matters in your own hands and do something about them, then nothing will change.

It was a lesson that Shiho-nee taught him.

He looked up. The sun hid behind the horizon a while ago, so it was probably around six or seven. The sky lightened up with thousands of tiny, white dots. Konoha also lightened up, from the lamps, neon's, candles and hundreds of lampions hung up between the buildings.

The corner of Naruto's mouth rose. No matter how much he sometimes hated this place, no matter how much the village hated him, no matter how many people in it didn't want to see him ever again, no matter how lonely he felt in this place, in moments like this he couldn't deny it.

Konoha was beautiful.

Hearing a familiar laugh, he looked down. Sakura and Ino were laughing loudly, pointing at Rue. The little girl, garbed in a grass green kimono with white flowers at the bottom, was holding a cotton candy, with a lot of the sweet treat on her lower face, which made her look as if she had a beard, especially with addition to her grey hair. The girl glared at the two older kunoichi, which only made them laugh harder, before whipping the cotton from her face and licking it off her fingers, her eyes lighting up at the taste. Still chuckling Sakura wiped the rest of the little girl's face and showed her how to it her treat properly.

The corner of Naruto's lips rose again. After everything the girl went through in her short life she deserved a bit of fun.

Someone landed on the tree. Naruto tensed immediately. When the figure started moving towards him he shifted his position so that he could react in a blink. He concentrated on his sixth sense. Shorter than him, bulky clothes, no weapon that that he could feel, hair that reached its shoulders. Nothing that could help him identify this person.

Well, it was already here…

"Naruto? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same thing, Sayuri," the redhead responded, relaxing slightly. He didn't really know her, but she wasn't a threat. "Shouldn't you be down there with your friends?"

"I just needed a quiet moment." It was weird to see her in a brand new, midnight blue kimono with fireworks motive randomly displayed all over it. Naruto never before saw her in anything other than her shinobi clothes, clearly second hand, though always well kept. Sayuri was an orphan like him. Konoha had an Orphan Fund that helped kids that lost their parents, but it was barely enough for an apartment and living. "What about you? Why aren't you down there?" She asked, drawing him out of his thoughts.

"Got tired of the crowd."

The girl gave him a critical eye. "Bullshit. You look more like you are going on a mission, not to the festival."

Naruto looked at her in surprise. He always remembered her as a quiet, soft spoken girl. And now she swore (mildly, but still) and called him on his bluff.

'_Guess not only her appearance changed in the last few months. Well, it would be disappointing if there was no improvement'_

"Said the girl that has hidden a knife on both hips and senbon at her wrists," he responded out loud.

It was her time to be surprised. She looked at him for a few seconds before chuckling and sitting down at the branch opposite of him. "Hello Topic Change, it's nice to meet you."

Naruto suppressed a smile. He used the same words when he tried to befriend her when they were starting the academy, back when he still played the idiotic, loudmouth clown role to get some attention.

Back when he still didn't know.

"You're not going to show up at the meeting later, aren't you?" Sayuri asked.

"Is that a trick question?" Responded Naruto, guessing that she was talking about the meeting with their classmates that Sakura mentioned a few days ago.

Sayuri sighed. "I know that you are not exactly the most outgoing person, but don't you think that you're going a little overboard? Even Sasuke came a few times to our class meetings!"

"Sasuke? So it's not 'Sasuke-kun' anymore?" Naruto teased.

The girl shook her head with a mock pity. "You know you really should work on subtlety when you are changing the topic."

"Fine then. I have a real question. Why is suddenly everyone worried about my social skills?" The redhead asked in exasperation.

"Because Sakura is bitching about it and it's starting to get annoying."

Silence fell upon them. Naruto looked down at the milling crowd. Sakura, Ino and Rue were still there, playing some game at one of the stands. The redhead consciously let his eyes roam the whole crowd, knowing that Sayuri was still observing him.

"You know, I also didn't want to go to the festival," she spoke after a few minutes, her voice much softer, "I wasn't really in a mood to celebrate on a day of my parents' death." Oh, right. She also lost her parents in the Kyuubi Attack. Naruto wondered, how would she react had she learned the reason of all those lonely nights was sealed inside him? "But then I thought that… well, don't you think that our parents would want us to enjoy the life? To move on? They wouldn't want us to stay cooped in the past, but rather… go outside?"

Naruto didn't respond. He couldn't stop his bitter thoughts that his mother would want him outside tonight. She would have a lot of clients tonight or worse.

He knew that he could be totally wrong about his parents. It was perfectly plausible that they were shinobi that died in a fight, or some civilian merchants from the destroyed part of Konoha, or just random travellers that happened to be in a wrong place in a wrong time. But life taught him to always assume the worst. If something surprised him, then it was at least a nice surprise.

"All right, I have to go," Sayuri said, standing up and straightening her kimono, "Ayuri is already going to bitch that I left her alone, and I still have to say hello to Sakura and Ino. See you around, Naruto. Don't be a stranger." With a final wave she jumped down into the streets.

Naruto sighed seeing her make a beeline towards Rue and the others. She was sure to tell them that she met him and, knowing Sakura, she would come up here and drag him to the festival, whether he liked it or not, probably with Rue's help.

With another resigned sigh he stood up, put on the hood of his cloak and jumped in the opposite direction. In the darkness it was unlikely that somebody would recognize him. And even if they did, he could always hide or outrun them.

He always runs.

Because while Shiho-nee taught him many things, she never managed to teach him how to stop running.

{12}

Naruto returned to his apartment two days later. He triple-checked to make sure that he was alone before he unlocked the chakra lock on the window. The room looked just as he left it five days ago, but the strand of hair that he left on the window sill was missing. He jumped inside and checked the rest of the apartment. It looked all right, and the second strand that he left on the handle of the front door was still there. It wasn't a perfect indicator. A gust of wind could blow it away. But if it was still there, then he at least knew that nobody came that way.

Good. Nothing was more depressing then coming to a destroyed apartment, with thrashed belongings, ruined furniture and words like 'DIE DEMON' or 'WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE' painted on the walls after a few days of running and hiding from angry, bloodthirsty mob.

"Not that you need any help in depressing yourself," Naruto muttered out loud, before forcing himself to stop this line of thoughts. He unsealed the supplies that he took with himself. He unrolled the sleeping bag to air it a little, dumped the clothes in the washing bin, activated the seal that would alarm him if someone tried to enter.

But nothing could take his mind away from the fact that he was alone.

He took a quick shower and then went to the kitchen. He didn't have anything fresh, so he took out a cup of instant ramen and put the water in the kettle. He chuckled, remembering the time when he ate only ramen. Few months after he met Shiho-nee, when he started making enough money to allow himself to be a little picky, he decided that ramen was all he needed. For a few weeks he lived on the noodle dish, be it from Ichiraku or its instant counterpart, until finally Shiho-nee had enough and beat into him the need for a proper feeling. Literally.

If there was some kind of the afterlife Naruto was sure that she was looking at him now with that strange mix of amusement, exasperation and reprimand.

He was in the middle of his second cup when the seal alerted him that someone breached its boundary. A few seconds later someone opened the window in the big room and jumped inside. Naruto quietly put away the chopsticks and unsealed a kunai from the glove that was laying on the table. He was pretty sure that he knew who this person was – after spending so much time together he could recognize her with just his sixth sense – but after the last few days he was a little jumpy.

So sue him.

He slowly walked through the small hall into the room. Just as he suspected, Rue was just putting something on the low table. She turned around and jumped back when she noticed him. Apparently she didn't hear him coming.

He was pleased to see one of her hands hovering over her hip-pouch. It was a healthy reflex.

"Hey, Little One," he greeted her quietly.

"Hello," she signed, relaxing and giving him a slight smile.

"I was just eating some ramen. You want some?"

The girl shrugged and nodded, Naruto waved at her and went into the kitchen, idly noticing that she picked up the object she put on the table and took it with her. When she put it on the table in the kitchen he saw that it was a small package wrapped in brown paper.

"What is it?" He asked as he put the kettle on the stove and turned towards Rue.

"It's for you," she signed before picking it up and giving it to him. When he took the package form her she continued, "Happy Birthday Naruto."

Naruto was shocked, so say the least. "How did you know that it was my birthday?" He surely never mentioned it to her… or anyone else for that matter.

"Ayame mentioned it, when you were on a mission in Wave Country," she explained.

Naruto nodded and carefully unwrapped the package, unrevealing a black scarf and a coupon for the Ichiraku Ramen. He picked the slip of paper and looked at Rue with a rose eyebrow.

"The coupon is from Ayame and Teuchi," she signed, "I didn't know what to buy you, but I noticed that your scarf is a bit rugged…" She trailed off, clearly anxious to see his reaction.

He picked the scarf. It was completely black, but he didn't recognize the material. It resembled slightly a ninja wire, just softer.

He frowned. He didn't give Rue any money lately. He was giving her some pocket money earlier, but he didn't remember giving her any since…

"Ichiraku," he realized, "You started working there to buy me a birthday present."

The little girl shrugged. "I mentioned your birthday to Ayame. She wanted to give me money to buy you a present, but I didn't want to just take it, so she proposed that I can work it off…" She once again trailed off, before hesitantly signing, "Do you like it?"

Naruto felt the corner of his lips rising. "I love it."

Rue beamed. The fact that she went to work just to buy him a present meant to him more than anything she could buy… but he was sure that she knew it. She was really smart after all.

"Thank you, Rue."

The girl blushed. Most of the time he was using the 'Little One' nickname when he spoke to her, so she knew that he really meant it.

The kettle started whistling. Naruto poured the water into two instant ramen cups and sat at the table, picking his unfinished one. The silence was stretching so he quickly went into another topic.

"So how was the festival?"

Instead of an explosion of excitement and blur of handsigns that Naruto expected a frown appeared on Rue's face as she looked down at her ramen. The redhead instantly started going over possible reasons. Did she hear someone talking about him? Maybe she saw a drunken mob going through the streets and searching for him? Maybe they asked about that 'Red-haired Demon' and she realized that it was him?

Rue looked up and Naruto was alarmed when he saw moisture in those huge, green eyes. "You were in the village. You went to the festival," she trailed off, "Why didn't you want to go with me?"

Naruto felt relief wash over him. With how smart and mature she was, much more mature than nay other nine-years old, he sometimes forgot that she was still just a little girl.

"I was in Konoha," he confirmed, "but I didn't go to the festival."

"But Sakura's friend said that she talked with you right before…"

"Yes, she did. And yes, I was. For about three minutes. I wanted to make sure you had a good time. Going to that particular festival is very dangerous for me, Little One," he interrupted gently.

Rue looked at him for a moment, before she signed slowly, "Is it one of those things that you can't tell me?"

Naruto cringed inwardly, seeing the hurt in her eyes. He didn't respond for a long moment, almost as long as this whole conversation as he warred a war with his mind.

And finally he came to a decision.

"Rue," he spoke, immediately getting her whole attention, "You had history lessons already, didn't you?".

Rue nodded slowly, not sure what Naruto was getting at. "Had you any about the more … recent history?".

"What do you mean?"

The genin closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths to steel his resolves. "I am talking about thirteen years ago. October 10th, thirteen years ago"

**{12}**

**Well, here you go.**

**A bit of a filler here. We have more fluff with Rue, some fun time from Team 7, Naruto being a bit emo (I know, I know, but considering what day it's, give the guy a break, will ya?), a bit of the readhead's past, and finally Naruto finally tells Rue about his furry roommate. Considering their relathionship, and the fact that she never fought against Kyuubi, or felt him like Kakashi's generation, or even heard of him that much, since she was living in Konoha only for a few months, it wasn't much of a risk really, but hey, bay steps, right?**

**As for the title of the chapter; At first I was going to use simple and forward "October 10". But then I noticed how similiar it's to chapter 8. Also, if you think about from Naruto's point of view: he just spend a few days hiding from literally everyone, alone on a day when most of the villagers are having fun, recalling all the things that happened to him and to those who he cared about, and yet to him it's JUST another year. Fitting, don't you think?**

**One last thing before someone asks; no, I'm not going to teach whole Team 7 the Rasengan. I just wanted to add the water fight scene, and it didn't seem too off. Hell, I'm not yet sure whether or not I will hive Naruto the Rasengan. I'm still working on that.**

**Well, that should be all. Big thanks to Faroffinho for Beta reading.**

**Until next time,**

**Aiedaill**


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